The return of BIBA and Vintage
13-01-2009
Its' all about Vintage darling…
If you like me love vintage, and want something different then you must visit the website I’m about to reveal…We all know that BIBA was a huge force to be reckoned with in the 1960’s and 70’s it was the first shop to make high street fashion ‘cool’. No longer did teenage girls have to look like their mothers in tired old tea dresses, they would be given the freedom to dress and express how they wanted to be seen.
The current state of the retail market is frankly dismal, and is somewhat representative of how the teenagers of that time must have felt, however bleak it may look now I believe what is happening at present is in actual fact a good thing! We have too much choice on the High 
Street, to many of the ‘same’ things trading under different names, people are crying out for some individuality! Whilst TopShop and Jane Norman along with the rest of the motley crew provide fashion service, if you can call it that, personally I can’t stand the high street stores they are dull, repetitive, and basically a heap of plonk but that’s just me!
I like many of my friends look for individuality when we shop, and this is where the return of the individual boutique will have a real comeback. I have noticed that there are more and more vintage e-tailers popping up all over the web.
I do believe that the little boutique will make a come-back, once all the big names have gone or at least some of them it will breathe new life onto our high streets.
bibalives.com is a relatively new website offering BIBA vintage classics as well as original vintage from across the whole board.
Unique Collection
The Seventies…
The 1970`s heralded the arrival of an androgynous decade that brought glam rock -with the Sweet, Slade, T Rex, Gary Glitter, David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and disco – with the bee gees and Donna Summer and punk- with the Sex Pistols, The Clash, 999, The Buzzcocks… to the music buying public… what a decade!
These musical genres influenced the fashion industry – platform shoes, shimmering designs. Flares, kaftans, cheesecloth… then by the end of the decade bondage trousers and ripped t-shirts with wild slogans and pictures. Everyday life changed with music influencing nearly everything!
In the early seventies strikes led to the famous three-day-weeks with the power industry and the lack of refuse collecting affecting everybody. In 1972 an unwelcome form of international terrorism reared its head with members of Israel’s Olympic team being slaughtered. Mods and rockers and punks regularly clashed on the king’s road.
Designers |
Malcolm McLaren, Emilio Pucci, Sonia Rykiel, Vivienne Westwood, Calvin Klein, Ossie Clark, Kenzo, Fiorucci, Chloe, Bill Blass, Guy Laroche and Bill Gibb. |
Fashion |
Bell bottoms, sequins, satin and glitter, platform shoes, trouser suits, maxi length skirts and dresses, kaftans, tube tops, disco dresses, bondage trousers, tiered skirts, knee length boots and hot pants. |
Celebrities |
Farrah Fawcett, John Travolta, The Bee Gees, Bianca Jagger, Steve McQueen, Michael Caine, Sidney Poitier, The Beatles, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, mother Teresa, President Nixon, Harold Wilson, Margaret Thatcher |
Films |
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid, A clockwork orange, Death in Venice, The Godfather, Jaws, Taxi driver, Star Wars, Saturday night fever, Close Encounters and Apocalypse Now. |
Novels |
Sophie’s choice, The World according to Garp, Roots, Shogun and Papillon. |
I must admit some parts of the site are not functioning properly as yet as it is still in its early stages, check out the site and see for yourself….
