Barbara Hulanicki : Long Live the Queen

Long Live the Queen!

The Shelborne Wyndham Grand South Beach and Conde Contemporary present the next exhibition in their popular Art Talks in the Drawing Room Lounge Series, "Long Live the Queen : A Celebration of Barbara Hulanicki's Fashion Illustration". The exhibition and conversation take place on Thursday October 6th from 7-9 pm in The Drawing Room Bar & Lounge, 1801 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33139.

"Long Live the Queen" features never before seen original fashion illustrations by Ms. Hulanicki, as well as prints, a video installation and a collage of handwritten notes, drawings and assorted miscellanea, offering the viewer a private view into the iconic designer's creative process.

Beginning at 8:00pm, Stacy Conde, Director of Conde Contemporary, CCPS and Technique Art Fair, interviews Barbara Hulanicki on her illustrious career. Ms. Conde has a unique perspective, having worked as a model for and assistant to Hulanicki in the late'80's and early'90's. This new Art Talks series will take place every first Thursday of the month from 7-9 p.m. in The Drawing Room Bar & Lounge inside the Shelborne Wyndham Grand South Beach.

Barbara Hulanicki was born in Poland but raised in England. She began as a freelance fashion illustrator for British Vogue, the Times, the Observer and the Sunday Times, and started Biba in 1964, with her late husband, Stephen Fitz-Simon. Its subsequent success is the stuff of legend, and when Biba closed its doors in 1975 she went on to work for Fiorucci and Cacharel as well as designing a children’s range for the Japanese market and publishing a memoir, From A to Biba, in 1983. She worked as a fashion photographer before reinventing herself as an interior designer with huge success in Miami Beach.

Today, Barbara continues to create her innovative designs as a retail & design consultant to a number of US and UK major fashion and home ware retailers. As well as wallpaper, paint, cushions and fireplaces, she designs exclusive fashion clothing collections including an exclusive collection for Top Shop back in 2009 and now currently the ‘Barbara Hulanicki for GEORGE at Asda’. These continue to be very successful, the first collection having launched in November 2010 and others now already extended well into 2014. She was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 2012 for services to fashion and an RDI in 2008. She has honorary doctorates from several institutions and has won awards in many fields, including one from the American Institute of Architects for her interior design work, in 2013 Barbara published ‘Seamless from Biba – A Life in Design’ a pictorial celebration of every aspect of her work designed by herself of Illustration, Photography, Product Design, Interior Design, Costumes, Print Design and Biba.

Now as active as ever, Barbara divides her time between Miami Beach and London and has just launched her own online shop called Icon Club.

Back in 1964 Barbara designed the first fashion tee body shape for her shop Biba. Today using modern fabrics and printing techniques, Barbara has recreated the hugely successful tee shirt for Iconclub. Available exclusively on-line, the brand Iconclub specializes in jersey fashion tees, nighties and accessories such as silk scarves and jumbo canvas bags.

Barbara has recently collaborated with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Brighton Pavilion Museum Costume Department on a new Book on Biba to be published in September 2014 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the conception of the Biba brand. As a build up to this celebration a number of high profile events are in planning at present including an exclusive ‘Audience with Barbara Hulanicki’ presented by the celebrated Fashion Editor Hilary Alexander in May 2014 at ‘Bath in Fashion’ as well as a unique catwalk show using original Biba clothes.