My business manual.

" The classic Biba dolly...was very pretty and young. She had an upturned nose, rosy cheeks, and a skinny body with long asparagus legs and tiny feet. She was square shouldered and quite flat-chested. Her head was perched on a long, swanlike neck. Her face was a perfect oval her lids were heavy with long spiky lashes. She looked sweet but was as hard as nails. She did what she felt at the moment and hand no mum to influence her judgement.

As time went by my Biba girl became more dreamy and untouchable. Her long straight hair turned into a halo of golden ringlets, her cheeks hollowed by brown powder, her lips stained with sepia lipstick. The thin line of her brows framed her sparkly blue eyes. Once she had formed into a person it was easy to think up dresses and all the other things she might want to use. She was so young and fresh that all those Auntie colours that I had hated when I was young looked new on her. In the daylight the orchids, dusty blues, bilberries and mulberries looked quite in tune with her surroundings. Once she was inside Biba, the music thundered, the lighting was soft, and she became more mysterious.

It was extraordinary to see how people applied, often successfully, my dream image to themselves. I felt we gave them basics that they could interpret in their own way. I could sit in the shop for hours watching customers who had previously bought things and were now wearing them with a completely new slant."

Barbara Hulanicki, From A to Biba.