Biba

Barbara Hulanicki launched her fashion empire with a mail order business, but the brand exploded into a cultural phenomenon after a simple pink gingham dress appeared in the Daily Mirror. The designer had hoped to sell three thousand units of the shift dress, but the publication generated over seventeen thousand orders in a single day. This overwhelming demand proved that a mass market for affordable, stylish clothing existed, allowing Hulanicki and her husband, Stephen Fitz-Simon, to open their first physical boutique in a former chemist shop on Abingdon Road in nineteen sixty-four. The shop was named after the nickname of Hulanicki's younger sister, Biruta.