{{Short description|Scottish fashion designer (1943–1988)}} {{EngvarB|date=September 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox fashion designer | name = Bill Gibb | image = Bill_Gibb_1976.jpg | image_size = | caption = Gibb in 1976 wearing knitwear of his own design | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1943|1|23}} | birth_place = New Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire, Scotland | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1988|1|3|1943|1|23}} | death_place = London, England | known_for = Fashion design | education = Saint Martin's School of Art & Royal College of Art | footnotes = |}}
'''William Elphinstone Gibb''' (23 January 1943 – 3 January 1988) was a Scottish fashion designer who became renowned in the 1960s and 70s for his unusual and flattering designs.<ref name=artfund>{{cite web|title=Collection of fashion drawings by Bill Gibb, Aberdeen Art Gallery. Art Funded in 1997|url=http://www.artfund.org/what-we-do/art-weve-helped-buy/artwork/7059/collection-of-fashion-drawings|publisher=The Art Fund|access-date=7 January 2013|archive-date=20 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140720155007/http://www.artfund.org/what-we-do/art-weve-helped-buy/artwork/7059/collection-of-fashion-drawings|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Gibb was born near New Pitsligo, a small village in Aberdeenshire in Scotland to George and Jessie (née Reid) Gibb,<ref name=feathers>{{cite web|title=Ruffling fashion feathers: Gray's students donate outfit inspired by North-east designer to Aberdeen Art Gallery|url=http://www.rgu.ac.uk/news/ruffling-fashion-feathers-gray-s-students-donate-outfit-inspired-by-north-east-designer-to-aberdeen-art-gallery|publisher=Robert Gordon University|access-date=7 January 2013|archive-date=15 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015105302/http://www.rgu.ac.uk/news/ruffling-fashion-feathers-gray-s-students-donate-outfit-inspired-by-north-east-designer-to-aberdeen-art-gallery|url-status=live}}</ref> the eldest of their seven children. Gibb, known affectionately as "Billy", was brought up by his maternal grandparents on their farm, Lochpots, near Fraserburgh. In 1960, Gibb's family bought the dairy farm at Smiddyhill in Fraserburgh, before finally settling in Netherton, in New Pitsligo.<ref name=Geordie>{{cite web|title=Geordie and Jessie Gibb celebrate 65 happy years|url=https://www.buchanobserver.co.uk/news/geordie-and-jessie-gibb-celebrate-65-happy-years-1-129030|publisher=Buchan Observer|access-date=23 September 2018|archive-date=23 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923162742/https://www.buchanobserver.co.uk/news/geordie-and-jessie-gibb-celebrate-65-happy-years-1-129030|url-status=live}}</ref>
Gibb's parents retired from farmwork in 1976, and latterly ran a bed and breakfast in the village of New Pitsligo. They celebrated their sixty-fifth wedding anniversary on 27 December 2009, shortly before George Gibb's death in 2010.
He was educated at Fraserburgh Academy.<ref name=es>{{cite web|title=Higher Still Resource: Bill Gibb London|url=http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/BillGibbLoRes_tcm4-374586.pdf|publisher=Education Scotland|access-date=7 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923233923/http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/BillGibbLoRes_tcm4-374586.pdf|archive-date=23 September 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> His teachers encouraged him to apply for art school in London, and so, in 1962, Gibb went to Saint Martin's School of Art.<ref name=es/> After graduating top of his class, Gibb was awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, but before completing his degree, he left to start up in business.<ref name=feathers/>
==Fashion design== In 1967 Gibb was one of six young designers invited to present their designs in New York, which led to a three-month research tour of the United States with his then boyfriend,<ref name=elle>{{cite web|last=Sells|first=Emma|title=Designers to Know: Bill Gibb|url=http://www.elleuk.com/fashion/designers-to-know/node_218998#image=1|publisher=ELLE UK|access-date=16 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002190941/http://www.elleuk.com/fashion/designers-to-know/node_218998#image=1|archive-date=2 October 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> the artist and textile designer Kaffe Fassett, who would remain a very close friend and design collaborator.<ref name=es/> On his return to London, Gibb and a group of friends had co-founded the Alice Paul boutique, for which Gibb designed typically late 1960s outfits of miniskirts and long coats, whilst his friends handled the marketing and manufacture.<ref name=es/> Between 1969 and 1972, as a freelance designer, Gibb designed for the London fashion house Baccarat.<ref name=vf>{{cite web|title=Notable People from Fraserburgh|url=http://www.visitfraserburgh.com/history_and_heritage/notableppl.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003090828/http://www.visitfraserburgh.com/history_and_heritage/notableppl.php|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 October 2013|publisher=Visit Fraserburgh.com|access-date=13 January 2013}}</ref> In 1972 Gibb launched his own company, Bill Gibb Fashion Group, which ran until 1988, and in 1975 he opened his first shop in London, on Bond Street.<ref name=vf/>
Beatrix Miller of ''Vogue'' selected one of Gibb's designs for Baccarat, a pleated tartan skirt and printed blouse worn with a Kaffe Fassett knitted waistcoat, as the 1970 Dress of the Year.<ref name=50gfm>{{cite news|last=Wood|first=Holly|title=50 GREAT BRITISH FASHION MOMENTS|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/50-great-british-fashion-moments-1199003.html|access-date=16 January 2013|newspaper=The Independent|date=19 September 1998|archive-date=31 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171031184709/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/50-great-british-fashion-moments-1199003.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Gibb's design was described as the epitome of the new emerging trend for romantic eclecticism in British fashion design, as well as demonstrating how traditional handicrafts, such as hand-knits, were becoming acceptable for mainstream fashion.<ref name=50gfm/> That same year, Harrods opened a dedicated area for Gibb's designs, calling it the "Bill Gibb Room",<ref name=es/> and the model Twiggy approached Gibb to create several historically-inspired dresses for her. She wore a "Renaissance" evening dress featuring printed textiles based on 1520s Hans Holbein drawings to the ''Daily Mirror'''s Fashion Celebrity Dinner in 1970.<ref>{{cite web|title=1970 evening dress worn by Twiggy, designed by Bill Gibb|date=1970 |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O15672/evening-dress-gibb-bill/|publisher=Victoria & Albert Museum|access-date=13 January 2013|archive-date=3 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803075320/http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O15672/evening-dress-gibb-bill/|url-status=live}}</ref> Another gown made from various patterned textiles that Twiggy wore to the 1971 film première of ''The Boy Friend'' drew a great deal of media attention.<ref name=es/><ref name=elle/><ref name=menkes>{{cite news|last=Menkes|first=Suzy|title=Bill Gibb: A bittersweet story of a forgotten designer|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/25/style/25iht-fbill.1.18094446.html?_r=0|access-date=13 January 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=24 November 2008|archive-date=24 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224223448/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/25/style/25iht-fbill.1.18094446.html?_r=0|url-status=live}}</ref>
100px|thumb|Late 1970s gown by Bill Gibb
Gibb presented his first collection under his own name in 1972.<ref name=elle/> His fantastical creations were based on nature, with unexpected combinations of fur, feathers, printed leather, and brightly coloured clinging fabrics.<ref name=es/> However, his most important work was in knitwear, co-designed with Kaffe Fassett and hand-knitted by Mildred Boulton.<ref name=es/> Due to massive demand, Gibb found a manufacturer in Leicestershire who was willing to take on the challenge of machine-knitting Fassett's extraordinarily complicated, multi-coloured woollen designs, although Boulton continued to hand-knit one-off designs.<ref name=es/> During the 1970s, Gibb did take on other design commissions, including creating a range of shoe designs for the high-end shoe manufacturer Rayne.<ref name="FTM Rayne">{{cite web|title=An Afternoon with Rayne Shoes|url=http://ftmlondon.org/talk-event/an-afternoon-with-rayne-shoes/|website=ftmlondon.org|publisher=Fashion and Textile Museum|access-date=1 June 2015|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150612002849/http://ftmlondon.org/talk-event/an-afternoon-with-rayne-shoes/|archivedate=12 June 2015}}</ref> Later, in the 1980s, Gibb collaborated with another Leicestershire manufacturer, Annette Carol, to produce acrylic knitwear using a jacquard technique.<ref name=es/>
Gibb was not a good businessperson,<ref name=frock>{{cite news|title=Frock prince|url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/frock-prince-1-1293332|access-date=16 January 2013|newspaper=The Scotsman|date=31 August 2003|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924135346/http://www.scotsman.com/news/frock-prince-1-1293332|url-status=live}}</ref> and his business was not financially successful, and collapsed in 1977, 1979 and 1980.<ref name=es/><ref name=frock/>
By the 1980s, he was producing small capsule collections as well as designing for individual private clients, and licensing his name to manufacturers and promotions, including a mail-order ensemble for readers of the UK magazine ''Women's Journal''.<ref name=es/> In 1985, he made a comeback with his "Bronze Age" collection, co-designed with Kaffe Fassett and featuring hats by Stephen Jones,<ref name=bronze>{{cite news|last=Moore|first=Jackie|title=Bill Gibb's Bronze Age|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19850321&id=eO09AAAAIBAJ&sjid=wkgMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3117,4608919|access-date=16 January 2013|newspaper=The Glasgow Herald|date=21 March 1985|archive-date=6 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206120008/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19850321&id=eO09AAAAIBAJ&sjid=wkgMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3117,4608919|url-status=live}}</ref> however it did not attract buyers.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rew|first=Christine|title=Bill Gibb|url=http://www.dressandtextilespecialists.org.uk/newsletterspring08.pdf|work=DATS (Dress and Textile Specialists) Journal, April 2008|publisher=DATS|access-date=16 January 2013}}{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
==Personal life and death== Gibb was described as "one of the most gentle, kindly and considerate human beings I have ever met" and a "man without malice" by the journalist Jack Webster.<ref name=jack>{{cite news|last=Webster|first=Jack|title=Untitled obituary for Bill Gibb|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VTpAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UlkMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6465,1877703|access-date=16 January 2013|newspaper=The Glasgow Herald|date=12 January 1988|archive-date=17 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517234140/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VTpAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UlkMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6465,1877703|url-status=live}}</ref> Twiggy described him as her "knight in shining armour",<ref name=menkes/> and as a "sweet, sunny farm boy in baggy corduroys whom I absolutely adored".<ref name=frock/>
For a while in the late 1960s, Gibb was in a relationship with Kaffe Fassett, who remained a close friend and colleague to the end.<ref name=frock/>
At the time of Gibb's death of bowel cancer in 1988, the ''Daily Mail'' reported that he died of AIDS, which was strongly denied by his friends and family.<ref name=frock/><ref name=AP>{{cite news|title=Scottish Fashion Designer Dies at 44|url=https://apnews.com/937f2d6fa24b7a9a45f4808269283514|access-date=16 January 2013|work=Associated Press News|date=3 January 1988|archive-date=18 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220518133504/https://apnews.com/937f2d6fa24b7a9a45f4808269283514|url-status=live}}</ref> Webster, writing for the ''Glasgow Herald'' also strongly refuted these claims, pointing out that the hospital had confirmed it was bowel cancer.<ref name=jack/> Despite this, Bill Gibb is still sometimes listed as an AIDS death.<ref>{{cite news|last=Garner|first=Claire|title=Arts suffer most as Aids rages on|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/arts-suffer-most-as-aids-rages-on-1583729.html|access-date=16 January 2013|newspaper=The Independent|date=26 November 1995|archive-date=7 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207094214/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/arts-suffer-most-as-aids-rages-on-1583729.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Legacy== In 2008, the designer Giles Deacon cited Bill Gibb's designs as a significant influence on his work.<ref name=jackie>{{cite news|last=McGlone|first=Jackie|title=Back in vogue – Bill Gibb|url=http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/fashion/back-in-vogue-bill-gibb-1-1137029|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140625210529/http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/fashion/back-in-vogue-bill-gibb-1-1137029|archivedate=25 June 2014|access-date=25 June 2014|newspaper=The Scotsman|date=14 October 2008}}</ref> Alongside Deacon, John Galliano has also spoken out in praise of Bill Gibb's work for reflecting the "romantic essence of British style".<ref name=menkes/>
In 2024, the last remaining section of the old Fraserburgh Academy building was renovated into an apartment complex, which was named after him.
In 2026, Bloomsbury published a book titled [https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/refashioning-bill-gibb-for-the-21st-century-9781350444621/ Refashioning Bill Gibb for the 21st Century]. Edited by Shane Strachan and Josephine Steed, the book chronicled the work of the designer through a series of interviews and essays by authors such as Iain R. Webb, Jeena Sharma, and Christine Rew.
It also featured over 100 illustrations and reexamined his creative decisions through the lens of cultural appropriation, sustainability and other contemporary concerns.
==Exhibitions== * Retrospective exhibition at Aberdeen Art Gallery, 1990.<ref name=artfund/> * ''Bill Gibb: A Personal Journey'' at the Fashion Museum, Bath (17 October 2008 – 2009)<ref>{{cite web|title='Bill Gibb: A Personal Journey' until October 2009 in Bath|url=http://www.culture24.org.uk/art/design/fashion%20and%20costume/art65550|publisher=Culture 24|access-date=7 January 2013}}</ref> * ''Billy: Bill Gibb's Moment in Time'' at the Fashion and Textile Museum (November 2008 – January 2009)<ref>{{cite news|last=Lack|first=Jessica|title=Exhibition preview: Billy: Bill Gibb's Moment in Time, London|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/nov/01/bill-gibb-moment-in-time|access-date=7 January 2013|newspaper=The Guardian|date=1 November 2008|archive-date=24 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240524120336/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/nov/01/bill-gibb-moment-in-time|url-status=live}}</ref> * Permanent gallery at Fraserburgh Heritage Centre, Aberdeenshire.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bill Gibb – Fashion gallery at the Fraserburgh Heritage Centre|url=http://www.fraserburghheritage.com/default.asp?page=25|publisher=Fraserburgh Heritage Centre|access-date=7 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123222932/http://www.fraserburghheritage.com/default.asp?page=25|archive-date=23 January 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Bill Gibb's work is represented in the permanent collection of many museums, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London,<ref>{{cite web|title=Bill Gibb in the collection of the V&A|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?slug=gibb-bill&name=4524&limit=45&offset=0|publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum|access-date=7 January 2013|archive-date=27 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527031311/https://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?slug=gibb-bill&name=4524&limit=45&offset=0|url-status=live}}</ref> Manchester City Galleries,<ref>{{cite web|title=Bill Gibb in the Manchester Galleries collections|url=http://manchesterartgallery.org/collections/search/?collections-search=&collections-search=&accession=&creator=Bill+Gibb&titles=&medium=&support=&technique=&material=&collection_group=&place=&images=false&earliest=&latest=|publisher=Manchester Art Gallery|access-date=21 September 2016|archive-date=24 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240524120336/https://manchesterartgallery.org/explore/search/?collections-search&accession&creator=Bill%20Gibb&titles&medium&support&technique&material&collection_group&place&images=false&earliest&latest|url-status=live}}</ref> the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool,<ref>{{cite web |title=Fashion in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool |url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/collections/fashion/index.aspx |publisher=National Museums Liverpool |access-date=21 September 2016 |archive-date=5 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160905221154/http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/collections/fashion/index.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York,<ref>{{cite web|title=Suit Bill Gibb (British, 1943–1988)|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/80032917|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|access-date=7 January 2013|archive-date=18 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220518085313/http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/80032917|url-status=live}}</ref> as well as those listed above.
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book|title=Bill Gibb : a tribute to the fashion designer of the 70s.|year=1990|publisher=City of Aberdeen, City Arts Department|isbn=9780900017254}} * {{cite book|last=Webb|first=Iain R.|title=Bill Gibb : fashion and fantasy|year=2008|publisher=V&A|location=London|isbn=978-1851775484}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibb, Bill}} Category:1943 births Category:1988 deaths Category:Scottish fashion designers Category:People from New Pitsligo Category:People educated at Fraserburgh Academy Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Art Category:Deaths from colorectal cancer in England Category:LGBTQ fashion designers Category:British people in knitting Category:Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art Category:20th-century Scottish LGBTQ people Category:20th-century British textile artists Category:British fashion designers