It’s London’s turn to embrace fashion films.

Tonight “Beyond Biba,” a documentary about Barbara Hulanicki, who owned and ran the cult, Sixties London label and retailer, will debut at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum. The film’s director, Louis Price, looks at Hulanicki’s history, her rise to fashion fame, and her subsequent role in helping regenerate Miami Beach in the Eighties and Nineties.

“Only while making the film have I realized the magnitude of the cult status the original Biba has for people,” said Price, whose mother wore Biba and modeled for the label in the Sixties.

“It really captured the hearts of an entire generation, and continues to do so.” The film, which follows Hulanciki in Miami and London, will also be screened at the Miami Beach Cinemateque September 11 through October 14 and at the Gate Picturehouse in London September 20, where Hulanicki will take part in a Q&A session.


On Wednesday night, footwear designer Jonathan Kelsey premiered his short film “High” at London’s Soho House. The dark, atmospheric film, directed by Sarah Dunlop, depicts actress Joana Preiss experiencing flashbacks of an evening with her beau which had a particularly grim ending. “I wanted to do something about a night out gone wrong,” said Dunlop, adding that she took her cues from the work of “Don’t Look Now” director Nicolas Roeg.

“Jonathan’s inspired by strong women – it’s not that pretty-pretty thing,” she said.

Kelsey’s products are not front-and-center in the film, and Preiss is shot wearing his shoe-boots only once. Dunlop said the film is meant to be more about mood than about product. Hosts Kelsey and Preiss, along with guests including Andrea Riseborough, Natalie Press, and Olivia Inge, crowded into Soho House to take in the film, which is also being shown on www.ShowStudio.com.