Mairi MacKenzie fashion historian, writer and curator and Research Fellow in Fashion and Textiles at Glasgow School of Art in conversation with Sarah Macpherson (née Plunket), the first store manager of seminal fashion retailer Biba in Kensington. Boutiques, like Barbara Hulanicki's Biba sold affordable fashion suited to the lifestyles of the baby boomer generation represented in Bailey’s photography. A selection of Sarah’s original Biba collection will be modelled in a live promenade as part of the event. Ticket includes talk in Bailey’s Stardust.

This research project is the outcome of a collaboration between GSA School of Design (Mairi MacKenzie) and National Galleries of Scotland. It draws upon and presents to the public a previously untapped collection of clothing by Biba, the London clothing boutique that is credited with (alongside Mary Quant) starting the youth quake revolution in fashion retail during the early 1960s. This clothing, which has never previously been seen in a public forum and to which I have been given exclusive access, is part of a private collection. As such it affords me the opportunity to show the clothing on live models, within the context of the museum and circumvent a quandary facing all curators of costume - how do you animate clothing whilst conforming to museum and archival codes of conduct.

It draws upon the model of Fashion in Motion at the Victoria and Albert Museum, live events held to show contemporary costume ‘in Motion’ to the public. These events were extremely successful, brought a new audience to the museum and went on to inform the collecting policies of both museums and fashion houses. However the V&A events drew upon non-historical dress, collections of clothing that were available for retail. This project marks a departure from this model in that it is showing a historically important collection ‘in Motion’ and upon bodies.

This collection is owned by Sarah Macpherson (née Plunkett), the first manager of the first Biba store in London, She worked for the company for 5 years. Prior to her appointment there, she worked as vendeuse at a London haute couture salon, servicing the Establishment via debutante balls and royal weddings. Her transition between couture and the Establishment to the store at the centre of the youth quake revolution of the sixties, provides an excellent prism through which to understand the changing cultural landscape of the sixties and the way that clothing represented that. As part of the event I will interview Sarah Macpherson.

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