subscribe to style file blog via RSSbiba in the buff
October 25, 2007 9:49 am
More than any item that it ever sold, London’s Biba represented the apex of cool in the sixties and seventies. The shop’s romantically debauched aesthetic, which involved what founder Barbara Hulanicki described in her autobiography as “fresh little foals with long legs, bright faces and round dolly eyes,” wearing skinny versions of retro fashions, was embodied in the iconic imagery photographer James Wedge created for Biba’s ad campaigns. His photos have come to have an appeal all their own, which makes the trove of original Wedge posters from 1974, unearthed by the online poster gallery 55Max, all the more appealing. The image of a model lounging on leopard-print pillows, à la Boucher’s “Nude on a Sofa,” and wearing nothing but smoky eye makeup, a veiled pillbox hat, and fingerless lace gloves, was printed to be sold at Biba, but the company folded before the work was launched and the posters never surfaced on the market. 55Max is offering them as a limited-edition artwork, sold unframed for £150 (about $300) or in a suitably slim tarnished gold frame for £295 (about $590).
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