"The Rainbow Restaurant/Room" apart of BIBA's fashion emporium beginning in 1964
Often visited by Mary Quant, Twiggy, David Bowie, & The Rolling Stones
What began as a postal boutique store quickly became a six-story empire located in Kensington, London featuring different department stores for women, men, & children. (Anna Wintour worked her first job here at 15!) A book store, food market, home goods store, rooftop garden, and a restaurant… “the rainbow restaurant.”
Barbara Hulanicki and her husband Stephen Fritz-Simon created the London department store in the Fall of 1964. The first boutique was named “BIBA” after Barbara’s youngest sister. As time went on, expansion was a must for the volume and their imaginations. All for the sake of culture being brought to the streets of London. In 1971, The Derry & Toms’s, six-story, Art-Deco Building became available and Stephen made the decision to move to a bigger space. Thus sparking The Rainbow Restaurant located on the fifth floor.
As for The Rainbow Restaurant, the interior design with its oval-shaped ceiling gives the atmosphere a very Art Deco feel. Designed by Marcel Hennequet, the room was delighted with multitudes of colors arraying over the restaurant. The menu offered starters, main courses, pudding, and a wine/champagne list. (Very curious about what the staff wore to work)
Supermodel Twiggy was a frequent visitor of BIBA and The Rainbow Room giving FASHION every chance she got in front of the camera
featured in Vogue Italia, March 1974
Unfortunately, the livelihood of BIBA staying afloat wasn’t realistic as financial troubles became apparent in the mid-70s, and they closed their doors once and for all.