Welcome to Big Biba - by Alwyn W Turner & Steven Thomas (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Richly illustrated in full colour, this reissue of Welcome to Big Biba is a fitting tribute to the greatest pleasure palace in retail history.

"Unseen illustrations show the genius of Biba's Barbara Hulanicki - in pictures... " -- The Guardian

"This reissued book is a photographic love letter to its dark, decadent glamour." -- The Lady Magazine
"... "This book is a testament to creative freedom," writes the now 87-year-old Hulanicki in the foreword, reflecting on her legacy. "You can do it all as long as you learn to wear a suit. Of course, your secret will be that the suit is lined in gold lamé." -- CNN

Big Biba was the final flowering of the near-mythical Biba retail brand. A shop like no other, all seven storeys stocked own-brand products packaged in the distinctive Biba style. Customers were immersed in a sensory smorgasbord - the complete shopping experience. A committed Bibaphile could buy a satin skirt, a leopard-print suitcase and a new bathroom, then spend the afternoon sipping cocktails among the flamingos in the roof garden, while the legendary Rainbow Room doubled as a live venue for some of the coolest acts in the world.

In the wake of this decadent dreamland's 50th anniversary, and in honor of the 60th anniversary of the very first Biba shop, Welcome to Big Biba is being republished, complete with over 150 photographs of the store and its products and designs. Written by the author of The Biba Experience and designed by Steven Thomas - the designer of Big Biba itself - these pages offer readers a genuine slice of the greatest pleasure palace in retail history.

'Welcome to Big Biba is an exceptional production... a perfectionistic coup' - Phil Baker, The Art Book.

Review Quotes

"Have you ever changed outfits in front of a mirror that mimics ancient Egypt, surrounded by cascades of leopard print? Or bought a pot of yoghurt that 'moos' as you pick it from the shelf? How about stopping for tea on a rooftop that is home to a flock of flamingos, or else wiled away the hours trying on cosmetics, amid mirrored cabinetry? While this might sound like some form of retail fever-dream, it was a reality for those lucky enough to visit the shop Big Biba in the early 1970s."--World of Interiors

"Six decades on however, Biba's legacy outlasts its footprint on the high street."--Yahoo News

"In its heyday Biba was the second most popular tourist attraction in the capital after the Tower of London... Now all we have is this book of marabou-fringed nostalgia."--The Times

"These stories and more are all explored in "Welcome to Big Biba," Thomas's gold-fronted monograph of the venture republished this month by ACC Art Books to celebrate the brand's 60th anniversary. "This book is a testament to creative freedom," writes the now 87-year-old Hulanicki in the foreword, reflecting on her legacy. "You can do it all as long as you learn to wear a suit. Of course, your secret will be that the suit is lined in gold lamé.""--CNN

"This reissued book is a photographic love letter to its dark, decadent glamour."--The Lady Magazine

"Those responsible for transforming the store into the paradise it came to be were designers Steven Thomas and Tim Whitmore."--Evening Standard

"Unseen illustrations show the genius of Biba's Barbara Hulanicki - in pictures..."Biba made fashion democratic - their clothes were inexpensive, of good quality and highly cherished," says Martin Pel, curator of a new exhibition about the store founded by Barbara Hulanicki in 1963."--The Guardian

"Welcome to Big Biba, a book which has been reprinted to coincide with the exhibition, notes that prior to the creation of the store "Biba had been in the business of fantasy, transforming every Eliza Doolittle who crossed its threshold into a gorgeous, vampish queen of the night. Now it sought to build a stage that would be worthy of the high street stars it had created.""--Creative Review