Fashion Parade
Fifteen members of our NWR were once again back in the height of fashion when they visited the Biba exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey.
The museum is small and a delight to visit. Not only did we see clothes designed and made by the wonderful founder of Biba, Barbara Hulanicki, we were also treated to a display of the clothes made for the 1971 film The Boyfriend, starring Twiggy.
Some of us had forgotten that most of the Biba clothes we coveted, and bought for three guineas, or made ourselves, were in muted colours. We mostly remembered the gorgeous plum colours, but there were the occasional splashes of brighter colours. We remembered the make-up, more accessible than the clothes because they were cheaper for our teenage selves, and many of us had either forgotten, or didn’t know in the first place, that there was Biba tinned food. That was probably introduced when Biba moved from its Kensington Church Street shop to the large ex-department store in Kensington High Street. Our main memory from that store was the bistro coat racks, covered in feather boas, and the subdued lighting.
Most of us went to lunch afterwards. The restaurant wasn’t expecting us, but opened their private dining area for us. We had a delicious lunch and ended up going home in the rush hour.
