UK: Hugh Grant and Jemima Khan take to the front row to witness the return of sixties' fashion favourite 'Biba' on day 2 of London Fashion Week.

Actor Hugh Grant and girlfriend Jemima Khan took to the front row of London Fashion Week on Tuesday (September 19) for the hottest ticket in town -- the revival of iconic Sixties label Biba. More than forty years on from its launch, the brand that helped define the Swinging Sixties came back to life as a more luxurious line for the 21st century hippy. Designer Bella Freud, Sigmund's great grand-daughter, rubbed shoulders with Grant and a gaggle of fashion editors for a show organisers had hoped would lend some Sixties buzz to the flagging London fashion event. Biba, founded in 1964, effectively invented the fast fashion scene that now defines the 10 billion pound British industry by making fashion accessible and shopping a leisure activity. Founder Barbara Hulanicki mixed Art Nouveau with old Hollywood, dressing 1960s stars Brigitte Bardot, Raquel Welch, Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithful, Twiggy and Julie Christie having turned a mail order service into the first fashion superstore. Freud's modern take stayed true to the original colour scheme of mulberries, blueberries, rusts and plums but added more modern textiles for her collection of jump-suits, pinafores and print shirts. However, London Fashion Week organisers may be overly optimistic in hoping the reborn Biba will help revitalise London's flagging reputation as a fashion capital on a par with New York, Milan and Paris. One front row guest, who declined to be named, said looking back in time might not be enough to shake up London's present. "I liked the parts that followed the Biba look most closely, like the white flowing shirts, but I wasn't so impressed with the rest. Overall, I'm not convinced about the longevity of the project," she said.

ITN Source | September 21, 2006

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