December 22, 2009 Style B5 The Epoch Times PART OF THE SCENE: Barbara and Andy Warhol. manfreddi bellati FASHION PHOTO: Barbara in a popular 1960s look. courtesy of barbara hulanicki SIXTIES STYLE: Barbara when the action began. courtesy of barbara hulanicki Up Close and Personal With Barbara Hulanicki, Part 2 By HAROLD LEIGHTON It’s been a while since world-famous fashion designer Barbara Hulanicki has been back to the University of Brighton, in the U.K. She studied at the then Brighton College of Art in the 1950s, but this year returned for a screening of a documentary ﬁlm about her life. The ﬁlm “Beyond Biba” was made by the son of a friend who worked with Hulanicki at Biba, the iconic ‘60s fashion shop she set up with her husband, Stephen Fitz-Simon. The ﬁlmmaker followed her around for a few days and spliced in documentary footage. “I thought it was a bit of a gas and wouldn’t see the light of day,” Barbara says, laughing. Little did she imagine that she would be doing a question and answer session following the ﬁlm screening at her old university in front of a sell-out audience. The ﬁlm includes footage of her early life and talks about her time at Brighton College of Art. Hulanicki says her teacher, Joanne Brogden, was “a breath of fresh air” and incredibly stylish and modern with a nonprovincial attitude at a time when fashion meant “steel-like women with concave tummies.” She swept down from London, and Hulanicki, who, as a private student, paid £3 a term to study at Brighton, was in awe and “worked like mad” to impress her. Barbara had had a tough job to persuade her mother to let her go to art college. “Art college was a bit like acting. A bit of a no-no. It was for people with loose morals and dirty nails,” she laughs. She was determined though, and describes art, particularly drawing, as her Sleepyhead Sleepwear great escape from provincial life. “I loved fashion and of course there was nothing around for people my age at that time,” she says. Hulanicki was born in Poland in 1936, and her family came to England in 1948 and moved to Brighton from London for the fresh air when she was 13. Brighton was not the fashionable arty town it is today. “It was like any other seaside town,” she says. Hulanicki, who was sent to boarding school in Worthing, says her main ambition in life was to get out of her hometown and get to Lon- don. Brighton College of Art was her ticket out. She opted for fashion, and in those days the classes were small—there were just 20-30 people in most of her classes. Hulanicki spent her ﬁrst two years taking a general course, including life drawing. She had one hour a week of fashion class and says that, because she was a private student, she could sign in and then spend the afternoons watching ﬁlms noir. After just two years, she realized that the way to get on in fashion was to work your way up in the industry, so she left college. She had done holiday jobs and realized that it took years before you could move from pinning up hems to becoming a fashion designer. “Everything was much slower then,” she says, and she was clearly impatient to get on. She decided that becoming an illustrator was a quicker route and wrote what she calls a very cocky letter to Helen Jardine Artists asking for a job. She got it and spent the next six months making the tea, she says. It was, however, her foot in the door. She went on to do drawing for advertising and work with newspapers before ﬁnally setting up Biba with her husband, Stephen Fitz-Simon. They started with a shop in Brighton, on the Queen’s Road. “It was in a nice Georgian house,” she says. Eventually, though, Biba decided to focus on one place—London. The intervening years have been full of activity, and Hulanicki has moved from fashion design to interior design and beyond. There are Speaking of Fashion Let’s Get Organized: Part 2 By DIANA MATHIAS Epoch Times Staﬀ With the winter weather keeping us indoors and the holiday spirit wafting through the house, I started thinking about keeping my kids warm while they are home for the holidays. I wondered what kind of options there are for kids’ pajamas. Looking at the favorite traditional sources of warm clothing—L.L. Bean and Land’s End—and the most popular children’s clothing companies— Carter’s and OshKoshB’Gosh— then searching in other eco-friendly companies I found a variety of products. Some companies say only that their clothing is imported. I’d rather know a little more about where the clothes come from, so this is a selection criterion that ﬁlters out some companies for me. If you’d rather not have your child sleep in fabrics chemically-treated to be ﬂame retardant this will ﬁlter out some products, but there are deﬁnitely options for you. The Carter’s web site explains that their polyester is in itself ﬂame resistant so it does not have to be treated, and the 100% cotton pajamas are snug-ﬁtting so they meet the Consumer Product Safety Commission requirement that snug-ﬁtting styles do not have to be ﬂame retardant. All of the brands I looked at did meet the Federal child safety requirements; there was a jersey knit polyester that was described as ﬂame retardant, micro-ﬂeece and polyester that were said to be ﬂame resistant, and snug-ﬁtting styles in 100% cotton. Another feature you might want is to have a positive, relaxing design or decoration on your kids’ pajamas. There are many choices with ﬂowers, sea shells, cuddly animals, or simply solid colors. You don’t have to settle for monsters or sharks or skulls printed on their sleepwear. So very quickly you can ﬁnd some good options, depending on how many requirements you have. With a little more searching, I found baby sleepwear that advertises not just organic cotton but also nontoxic dyes, from Newbornmom. com. A company named Bamboosa sells American-made, soft, organic bamboo-blend sleepwear, baby blankets, and socks. And ﬁnally, looking on the Fair Trade Federation Web site, I found a company in Vermont called Kusikuy Clothing Company which meets just about every responsible point you could want. The clothes are hand-knit from alpaca wool, machine washable, 100 percent fair trade, carbon neutral, animal friendly, and hypoallergenic. The company sells woolen pants and night pants for babies and toddlers as well as sweaters, jackets, hats, and scarves for kids and clothes for grownups, too. The web site said that the owner is on By MIRIAM SILVERBERG Never hang knits from the shoulders. That’s a deﬁnite no=no because they’ll stretch. Knit suits and dresses should be folded horizontally at the waist or knees and hung from the rod of the hanger. It’s a good idea to pad the rod with tissue paper ﬁrst. An exception is some light knit jackets that I do hang but I ﬁrst cross the sleeves over the opposite shoulder: right sleeve draped over left shoulder and left over right shoulder. This keeps it from stretching. My hats are kept in hat boxes on the shelves. On the ﬂoor of one closet I have a large basket with my pantyhose. I keep all my pantyhose together in clear plastic bags with slips of paper inside describing what is inside and how many pairs. For instance, inside one bag will be hose and a note reading, 5 pairs sheer black with seam. This way I always know what I have and what I need and never go looking for brown hose only to realize my last pair has a run. In another basket I keep my kneehighs and socks. Naturally, all my red socks are together, all my white, etc. My scarves are hung folded in half vertically on the rod of a hanger. You no signs that she is slowing down at 72. The past year has been a particularly busy one for Hulanicki. Apart from the documentary, she has designed her own line of clothes for Topshop. She says it is great not having to worry about how the clothes are manufactured. She just does her designs and other people worry about the details. She ﬁnds this method very liberating creatively, and says that Topshop is always moving forward and doesn’t wait for the next fashion season. Plus the feedback is instant and direct, she says. If someone likes your work they buy it; if not, it stays on the rack. She designs casual, wearable clothes and is dismissive about the catwalk trend for evening dresses. “Everyone is doing evening dresses, but who wears them?” she asks. “It’s bonkers.” Her years of experience mean her advice is well sought after. She says fashion students at Brighton need to learn by doing. “Try to work for people you admire and then you will really learn on the job,” she says. “Make clothes that people want to wear, but that doesn’t mean you can’t put your own ideas in.” She also advises students to learn pattern cutting. “You can’t get clothes to look right unless you understand pattern cutting,” says the veteran designer. “If you can do it all yourself, you have the power.” Harold Leighton started in the beauty industry in London and now lives in Boca Raton, FL, and writes about beauty and interesting people. He can be reached at [email protected] can ﬁt many scarves on the same hanger. When you look for a particular scarf, you just fold over the top scarves until you ﬁnd the one you’re looking for. Heavy chains and belts are hung from a hook. Thin, dainty chains are wrapped around a piece of doubled paper and placed in my jewelry box. I’m lucky enough to be able to devote an entire closet just to shoes. Most are out of boxes and on shelves grouped by color. Since I’ve run out of shelves, I stack some in boxes, but I tape a note outside each box so I know what’s inside: Anne Klein black velvet, Michael Kors metallic. I know. I’m disgustingly organized. But it saves me from ever going to my closet and saying, “I have nothing to wear.” I promise. Miriam Silverberg is a freelance journalist and owner of Miriam Silverberg Associates, a boutique publicity agency in New York City, She may be reached at [email protected]. Spanish Sp p Taverna PAJAMA PARTY: Actress Tami Anderson and her daughters Kenni (left) and Lyric (right) arrive at “The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement” DVD Party in 2004. amanda edwards/getty images leave, ﬁnishing her doctoral degree, so there is a limited selection right now, but I’d keep an eye on this company for upcoming inventory. If your kids are teenagers, there are some responsible companies oﬀering sleepwear for women but not for children. From Gaiam, you can get organic cotton gowns, robes, and pajamas, even some with lace trim, as well as fair trade silk lounge wear. International Princess Project uses Indian sari fabrics and makes some cotton pants with polyester trim borders. This year I noticed a lot of matching family pajamas, especially in holiday themes, which would add some fun to your festivities. And if your little girl likes the American Girl series she can have sleepwear that matches the doll and the story. And ﬁnally, as a money-saving idea a colleague suggested there is a good selection at good prices at an outlet store. Again, there is a wide selection to ﬁt diﬀerent standards. So have fun shopping, and may your purchases keep your kids warm now and bring you many warm memories over the years. Restaurant A hi hidden dden gem purveying some of the most authentic Spanish cuisine th All dishes served e, with saffron rice, potatoes or vegetables Corner of venue 38 Street & 7th Avenue th 212-221-6458 58