Biba's 40th birthday

Forty years ago, in its heyday, the London fashion and lifestyle emporium was the place to shop. Biba, founded by husband-and-wife-team Barbara Hulanicki and Stephen Fitz-Simon in 1964, rapidly became an iconic brand on the London fashion scene. Known for its anti-establishment attitude to fashion and lifestyle, Biba set the tone for the fashion world.

The couple started their business off as a mail order operation, but soon began opening small shops in London. Their breakthrough "knock down, throw away and make another" philosophy towards the designer clothes market struck a cord with consumers. The cheaper the clothes, the more easily they could be replaced. Hulanicki, a former art student, incorporated Art Nouveau and Art Deco designs into her fabrics and sold dresses for just under £3. Orders came storming in, 17,000 to be precise, and the pair soon abandoned the mail order business.

In 1969 Big Biba opened on Kensington High Street. It sold everything from clothes and make-up to lifestyle merchandise, with a strong focus on 30's glam. The shop was co-funded by Dorothy Perkins. As its fame grew, the dim interiors, filled with rock music and mahogany screens, became an attraction for tourists. In 1973 Biba moved to an Art Deco department store on Kensington High Street, the former premises of Derry and Tom's.

Eventually the shop started to attract fewer shoppers. Hulanicki left the company after disagreements over creative control. In 1975 Biba was closed by the British Land Company. The Dorothy Perkins shareholder decided that the building that Big Biba was housed in was worth more that the ailing business itself. Biba never opened to the public again.