Kiki Byrne (18 April 1937 – 3 April 2013) was a Norwegian-born, London-based fashion designer who is mainly remembered as
Mary Quant
Dame Barbara Mary Quant, Mrs Plunket Greene, (born 11 February 1930)The Mary Quant exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2019-20 stated her year of birth as 1930, and that she became a student at Goldsmiths College around 1950. is a ...
's rival on the
King's Road
King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents), is a major street stretching through Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...
in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Early life
Born Olaug Juliane Grinaker, but known as Kiki throughout her life, she was the eldest of three sisters growing up on a farm in Norway during the
German occupation
German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...
.
[ In her mid-teens she moved to London, where she studied at Harrow College of Art.][ After this, she met her first husband Nicky Byrne, who also acted as her business manager.][ After selling some of her early designs through ]Mary Quant
Dame Barbara Mary Quant, Mrs Plunket Greene, (born 11 February 1930)The Mary Quant exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2019-20 stated her year of birth as 1930, and that she became a student at Goldsmiths College around 1950. is a ...
's boutique ''Bazaar'', Kiki set up her own boutique in Sloane Street
Sloane Street is a major London street in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea which runs north to south, from Knightsbridge to Sloane Square, crossing Pont Street about halfway along.
History
Sloane Street takes its name from Sir H ...
, in collaboration with her husband. Some sources suggest that this boutique was called ''Glass & Black'',[ although extant Kiki Byrne garments are labelled ''Kiki Byrne''.
]
Fashion
Following its initial success, the Byrnes moved ''Kiki Byrne'' to new premises on the King's Road.[ Byrne and Mary Quant were remembered as the "first people to make clothes for young people". Their designs offered a young alternative to the mature styles then being produced by high fashion designers. Byrne told '']The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
'' in 1958 that "only Midlands businessmen's wives can afford Michael
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...
and Hartnell Hartnell is an English surname. Notable people with this surname include the following:
* Andy Hartnell, American comic book writer
* Bryan Calvin Hartnell, victim of the Zodiac Killer in California, 1969
* John Hartnell, English seaman and explo ...
". Also in 1958, Byrne collaborated with the photographer Tony Armstrong on a ski-wear collection that was featured in ''Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine
** ''Vogue China'', ...
''.[
Byrne was known for very simple, youthful ]little black dress
The little black dress (LBD) is a black evening or cocktail dress, cut simply and often quite short. Fashion historians ascribe the origins of the little black dress to the 1920s designs of Coco Chanel. It is intended to be long-lasting, versat ...
es and unfussy suits made with good quality fabrics in neutral tones such as beige, which appealed to the likes of Susannah York
Susannah Yolande Fletcher (9 January 1939 – 15 January 2011), known professionally as Susannah York, was an English actress. Her appearances in various films of the 1960s, including '' Tom Jones'' (1963) and '' They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'' ...
, Grace Coddington
Pamela Rosalind Grace Coddington (born 20 April 1941) is a Welsh former model and former creative director at large of American ''Vogue'' magazine. Coddington is known for the creation of large, complex and dramatic photoshoots. A '' Guardian'' ...
, and Christine Keeler,[ and also to glamorous actresses and models such as ]Kay Kendall
Kay Kendall (21 May 1927 – 6 September 1959) was an English actress and comedienne. She began her film career in the musical film '' London Town'' (1946), a financial failure. Kendall worked regularly until her appearance in the comedy film ...
and Barbara Goalen
Barbara Goalen (1 January 1921 – 16 June 2002) was a British model who came to international prominence between 1945 and 1954, then gave up her career at the height of her success. Described as "the most photographed woman in Britain" and "argu ...
.[ She also made a white trapeze-line dress for Lady ]Antonia Fraser
Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Fraser, (' Pakenham; born 27 August 1932) is a British author of history, novels, biographies and detective fiction. She is the widow of the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Harold Pinter (1930–2008), and pr ...
to wear to Royal Ascot
Ascot Racecourse ("ascot" pronounced , often pronounced ) is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. It hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 horse races and ...
in 1958, enabling her to be photographed while concealing her pregnancy.[ Although Byrne described her clothes as "exclusive clothes – at reasonable prices",][ ]Barbara Hulanicki
Barbara Hulanicki (b. 1936) is a fashion designer, born in Warsaw, Poland, to Polish parents and best known as the founder of clothes store Biba.
Career
Hulanicki was born in Warsaw, Poland, to Polish parents. Her father, Witold Hulanicki, ...
, who went on to launch the original ''Biba
Biba was a London fashion store of the 1960s and 1970s. Biba was started and primarily run by the Polish-born Barbara Hulanicki with help of her husband Stephen Fitz-Simon.
Early years
Biba's early years were rather humble, with many of the ou ...
'' boutique, remembered that one of Byrne's black dresses cost 20 guineas
The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from t ...
, which she thought quite expensive.[ Hulanicki would later recall how excited she and her friends were to discover Byrne designing the kind of nice, simple, youthful garments that they wanted to wear, but had difficulty finding.
Byrne's designs, along with those of Foale & Tuffin, ]Sonia Rykiel
Sonia Rykiel (; ; 25 May 1930 – 25 August 2016) was a French fashion designer and writer. She created the Poor Boy Sweater, which was featured on the cover of French ''Elle'' magazine. Her knitwear designs and new fashion techniques led her t ...
, Quant, and Biba, were worn by the famously trendy Cathy McGowan on her influential music show ''Ready Steady Go!
''Ready Steady Go!'' (or ''RSG!'') was a British rock/pop music television programme broadcast every Friday evening from 9 August 1963 until 23 December 1966. It was conceived by Elkan Allan, head of Rediffusion TV. Allan wanted a light enter ...
''.
Following the closure of ''Kiki Byrne'' in the mid-1960s, when it was bought out by Jaeger, Kiki designed for other labels including Frank Usher.[
]
Costume design
Alongside the fashion work, Byrne had success as a film costume designer
A costume designer is a person who designs costumes for a film, stage production or television show. The role of the costume designer is to create the characters' outfits or costumes and balance the scenes with texture and colour, etc. The costume ...
. She created the golden bikini worn by Margaret Nolan
Margaret Ann Nolan (29 October 1943 – 5 October 2020) was an English actress, visual artist and glamour model. She appeared in '' Goldfinger'', '' A Hard Day's Night'' and six '' Carry On'' films, and also regularly appeared on screen from t ...
in the title sequence of the 1964 James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
film '' Goldfinger'', which was art-directed by her then boyfriend, Robert Brownjohn
Robert Brownjohn (August 8, 1925 – August 1, 1970) was an American graphic designer known for blending formal graphic design concepts with wit and 1960s pop culture. He is best known for his motion picture title sequences, especially '' From R ...
.[ Other films which she costumed included '']Fathom
A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. The fathom is neither an International Standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally-accepted non-SI unit. Hi ...
'', ''Perfect Friday
''Perfect Friday'' is a British bank heist film released in 1970, directed by Peter Hall. It stars Ursula Andress as Lady Britt Dorset, Stanley Baker as Mr Graham, David Warner as Lord Nicholas Dorset and T. P. McKenna as Smith.
Plot
Mr. Graha ...
'',[ and, with ]Gina Fratini
Gina Fratini (born Georgina Caroline Eve Butler, 22 September 1931 – 25 May 2017) was a Japanese-born British fashion designer.
Early life
She was born in Kobe, Japan, the daughter of the Hon. Somerset Butler (son of Charles Ernest Alfred Fr ...
, ''Stop the World – I Want to Get Off
''Stop the World – I Want to Get Off'' is a 1961 musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley.
According to Oscar Levant, the play's title was derived from graffiti.
Plot
The show, set against a circus backdr ...
''.
Later life and death
Following the breakdown of her first marriage, Byrne was in a long-term relationship with Brownjohn which ended shortly before his sudden death in 1970.[ In 1971, she married the journalist Stephen Milne.][
Kiki Byrne died on 3 April 2013. She was survived by her second husband and two daughters.][
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, Kiki
1937 births
2013 deaths
Norwegian fashion designers
British fashion designers
Norwegian women fashion designers
British women fashion designers
Women costume designers
British costume designers
Norwegian emigrants to England