Shoe, sandal

A pair of emerald green leather shoes with peep-toe vamps decorated with ruching, open sides, with small heel support and ankle straps on a 105 mm high stiletto heel. The natural leather lining and sock are printed with the distinctive gold Biba label. The shoes were made in Spain, and are a size 4. They were bought in 1973 from the Biba store in Kensington High Street and have their original box.

Biba began to make footwear in 1970, initially using an English factory. The venture was a great success with 75,000 pairs of shoes sold within the first three months. Barbara Hulaniki later recalled, 'the shoe trade, we were told later, would come at night and count the empty boxes outside the backdoor to see how many had been sold that day'.
(Barbara Hulanicki, 'From A to Biba', 1984.)