Museum

My first ever visit to the Fashion and Textiles Museum down Bermondsey Street, just behind London Bridge station, took place on a sunny Saturday 29^th June on a whim. Having just finished queueing for nearly three hours for the Folio Society book sale (also a first timer, haven’t seen queues for books that long since Harry Potter midnight releases) I thought I would have a look around the area.

Bermondsey Street is worth strolling down anyway, especially for London Glassblowing, a small gallery and glassblowing workshop where you can actually watch the beautiful glass art being made first-hand. Eames Fine Art Gallery is also here, as well as various cafés, pubs, a greengrocer, a couple of smart charity shops, and, of course, the museum.

It is very small but features very well-tailored exhibitions covering topics which might not get the same treatment in the larger galleries and museums. From March to September 2024 you can explore a short history of influential fashion house Biba, founded by Barbara Hulanicki along with her husband Stephen Fitz-Simon. Biba exerted phenomenal influence over catalogue and high-street fashion, as well as home and lifestyle brands, becoming the first lifestyle label during its operations between 1964 and 1975. During that limited time Hulanicki produced amongst other things full outfits, shoes, bags, notebooks, colouring books, perfumes, cosmetics, lamps, hats, and coats, and became known just as much for her interior design style as she did for her clothing.

The exhibition itself is neat and tidily organised, in chronological order on the ground floor as it charts the various shops Hulanicki founded and designed, before moving on to home-wear and lifestyle on the first floor. There is a good amount of historical detail and flavour, but there is not much about the fabrics of the clothes themselves, which is surprising given it is a textiles museum. There was a brilliant selection of outfits and dresses on show though, as well as some men’s suits, and it was fascinating to see early examples of a lifestyle brand taking shape. Biba apparently sold food and drinks as well interior design items so you could match your clothes to your house to your dinner! There is a clear timeline throughout with factual and fun information about the 60’s and 70’s as well as Biba itself. Sadly, this trailblazing company only lasted 11 years, but has been relaunched under different owners several times since, and has not stopped influencing other fashion around it. I myself own some items from the current version of Biba, which is now a House of Fraser brand.

Biba is a fascinating brand which managed to squeeze unbelievable stories into its run-time. Hulanicki’s shops were ‘theatres to fashion’, evolving into a huge department store in Kensington High Street, with floors covering everything from pets to soft furnishings to statues to books to cocktails. This exhibition is a lovely taster and introduction to Biba, the London of the 60’s and 70’s, and to Hulanicki herself, who sounds like a woman of unbridled creative force.

You will be able to get around the Fashion and Textiles Museum in an hour, and there is no other exhibition space, so I would suggest combining your visit with a look in at London Glassblowing and perhaps one of the restaurants and cafés along the road. Tickets are around £12.65 for adults including donation. There is a shop and toilets, but it does not seem to have a café. The museum also offers its own workshops in fashion, fabric cutting, fashion illustration, digital design, and various other textiles-related courses.