APPLIED ART : COSTUME

Object Name: Trouser suit
Maker: BIBA (Primary maker)
BIBA
Date Made: 1972-1973
1972-1973
Description: design :black and brown striped wool jersey trouser suit. 2 piece trouser suit of black and tan striped wool jersey, the stripes 2.3 cm wide with one row of gut thread between the stripes. Jacket is long line, fitted, with bust dart and with long set in sleeves. Collarless cardigan-style v neckline, with the front band and 2 hip patch pockets having horizontal stripes at right angle to rest of suit's vertical stripes. S/B fastening with 8 plastic buttons of dark blue tint. Trousers are very long and wide, no waistband, plastic side zip. Label faded yellow on black cloth 'BIBA' below interlace pattern Wool trouser suit, c.1972 Biba (Barbara Hulanicki, (1938-) Barbara Hulanicki's first boutique was opened in 1953 but she is beast known for her huge 'lifestyle' department store in Kensington High Street, whcig for a few years - 1969 to 1975 - was a mecca for ttourists and customers alike. Her designs were inspired by Art Deco and 1930s fashions and fabrics, but her colours were more often the fashionable black, plum and purple. This trouser suit, long and lean is a very good example of her day wear. From exhibition label 'Grand Designers' 'Biba' was the design brad of Barbara Hulanicki who it after her siter and it began as a postal 'boutique' through the Daily Express. She then expanded, opening shops in London's Kensington, where office girls would often find that they were sharing the changing room with celebrities like Brigitte Bardot and Yoko Ono. Her trademark colours were mulberry and rust and the clever tailoring of brics such as jersey lent a galmourous edge to the fashions of the early 1970s.
Catalogue Number: BELUM.T1401
Copyright: National Museums NI

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