Retail design the middle of town. The first shopping centre in the Netherlands was built in the 1950s, as retail design ideas began spreading east. The next evolution of retail design was the creation of the boutique in the 1960s, which emphasized retail design run by individuals. Some of the earliest examples of boutiques are the Biba boutique created by Barbara Hulanicki and the Habitat line of stores made by Terence Conran. The rise of the boutique was followed, in the next two decades, with an overall increase in consumer spending across the developed world. This rise made retail design shift to
Biba had been worn by Brigitte Bardot. By the morning after the dress was advertised in the "Daily Mirror", over 4,000 orders had been received. Ultimately, some 17,000 outfits were sold. Hulanicki worked as a fashion illustrator after studying at Brighton Art College in the late 1950s. She married advertising executive Stephen Fitz-Simon and they soon opened a mail order clothing company that she named Biba's Postal Boutique. Biba was the nickname of her younger sister Biruta. The first store, in Abingdon Road in Kensington, was opened in September 1964. Hulanicki’s first encounter with her new customers was at 10 o’clock