A British fashion icon. An award-winning designer, consultant, and illustrator. Barbara Hulanicki’s work encompasses innovation and edginess, and The Betsy is thrilled to host Barbara Hulanicki: London 1986, Apres BIBA, a photography exhibit featuring some of her designs.
Born in Poland but raised in England, Hulanicki’s career is a success story with rock-and-roll roots. In the 1960s, Hulanicki went into business with her partner, Stephen Fitz-Simon, developing the boutique BIBA—a small mail-order business. With a few false starts behind them, their boutique blossomed when their first piece struck a chord with the public and gave them the opportunity to open their first brick-and-mortar store, where stars like Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, and Marianne Faithful became regulars.
Today, Hulanicki has decades of fashion photography, interior and exterior design work, a make-up line, a memoir, and much more under her name. In 1987, Hulanicki arrived in Miami Beach, where she immersed herself in and reimagined the city’s Art Deco District, becoming the most influential hotel designer of South Beach’s revitalization. Working on designs for Woody’s on the Beach—a nightclub owned by Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones—as well as designing hotels like The Leslie, The Cardozo, The Carlyle, The Kent, and The Cavalier, Hulanicki left her mark on Ocean Drive and beyond, winning an award from the Miami Design Preservation League for her work on the Marlin Hotel.
Barbara Hulanicki: London 1986, Apres BIBA features Hulanicki’s work on “A Different Set of Muscles”, the 1986 ballet featuring fashion maven Molly Parkin as Cupid, with costumes designed by Mark Erskine-Pullin. The Betsy also hosts a series of black-and-white images from a 1986 article in the London Standard newspaper, featuring the hats of Kristen Woodward and jewelry by her friend Andrew Logan.
The Betsy looks forward to showcasing this exhibit in full when the hotel reopens October 30th. Discover our other exhibits and start planning your art-filled Betsy getaway.
