Fashion's Lost Boy

This month sees one of the fashion industry’s forgotten heroes celebrated, not once (at The Fashion Museum in Bath), not twice (at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London too) but three times (yes, there’s also a book coming out). So who the heck is Bill Gibb, and why have you never heard of him?

Born in Aberdeenshire, he moved to London to attend Central St Martin’s where he became increasingly inspired by pre-Raphaelite paintings and medieval clothing – he all but invented the hippy look and created a style that defined a decade.

His clothes were a chocolate box of delights – he broke all the rules and mixed together things that really shouldn’t be put together, a wildly eccentric mix of spots and stripes, florals and tartans, leather, lace, checks and Fairisle knits, sometimes all in the same garment.

He was voted Designer Of The Year by Vogue in 1970, his clothes were sold in Harrods and Harvey Nichols, and exhibited at both the Musée du Louvre in Paris and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, he had a shop on Bond Street and his debut collection in 1972 was declared the sensation of the season.

His philosophy was simple: ‘Reality is so horrific these days that only escapism makes it bearable at times. So the more glamour the world can provide, the better people will like it. However fashion changes, glamour will never go out of vogue’.

So where did it all go wrong? Sadly, as with many creative types, Bill did not posses what you could call a business brain and he fell from favour, went bust and died.

Despite all that his work continues to inspire today. Both Giles Deacon and John Galliano have cited him as an important influence. Galliano says: ‘I have been inspired by his collections and his colours. We both use chiffons, lace, frivolity and the exotic to create beauty and seduction for our generation's butterflies’.

So don’t delay, it’s time to seize the spirit of the Seventies and find your inner hippy. Grab this chance to discover one of Britain’s forgotten gems and true eccentrics.

Bill Gibb: A Personal Journey, from 17 October, The Fashion Museum, Bath fashionmuseum.co.uk

Billy: Bill Gibb’s Moment In Time, from 24 October, The Fashion And Textile Museum, London ftmlondon.org

Bill Gibb: Fashion and Fantasy, by Iain R Webb, is published on 20 October