V&A

Black Linen Maxi Coat with A-Line Silhouette

1970s · 1970s · British

Designer

Biba

Production

ready-to-wear

Material

linen

Culture

British

Movement

Mod · Bohemian · Hippie / Counterculture

Influences

Victorian cape silhouette · Art Nouveau flowing lines

A floor-length black linen coat featuring a dramatic A-line silhouette that flares from the shoulders to create a sweeping, tent-like shape. The coat displays a wide lapel collar and appears to fasten with a double-breasted button closure down the front. The sleeves are set-in and appear to be full-length with fitted cuffs. The garment's construction emphasizes volume and movement, characteristic of Biba's theatrical aesthetic that bridged mod sensibilities with emerging bohemian influences. The heavy drape of the linen creates structured yet fluid lines, while the ankle-length hemline reflects the period's embrace of maxi proportions across all garment categories.

coatstraightfloor length

Connected To

Black Linen Maxi Coat with A-Line Silhouette

69%

Teal Blue Lurex Jersey Jacket and Skirt Suit

Designer·Biba

LINEAGEsame era · cross-category→ directed

Lineage: “mod A-line silhouette”

Both pieces pulse with Biba's signature drama, but they reveal the label's range within its own aesthetic universe. The black linen coat channels Barbara Hulanicki's love of sweeping, almost medieval silhouettes—that floor-length A-line with its generous lapels could have walked straight out of a Pre-Raphaelite painting, embodying Biba's romantic darkness.

Echoes Across Time

Golden Yellow Floral Bell Sleeve Shift Dress

2010s → 1970s · 50yr49%

SHARED

Movement·Mod

Victorian Late / Bustle → 1970s · 80yr40%

LINEAGE

Pull the Thread→

Follow this garment wherever the graph leads

Black Linen Maxi Coat with A-Line Silhouette

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Sage Green Geometric Print Wool Etamine Maxi Dress

Movement·Hippie / Counterculture

LINEAGEsame era · cross-culture · cross-category→ directed

Lineage: “1970s bohemian style”

These two pieces capture the 1970s maxi revolution from opposite poles—the black linen coat speaks in the spare, monastic language that Halston perfected, while the geometric wool dress shouts in the kaleidoscopic patois of hippie wanderlust.

Text62%

Image75%

Entity21%

Black Linen Maxi Coat with A-Line Silhouette

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Black Wool Wrap Maxi Dress with Bee Buttons

Movement·Hippie / Counterculture

LINEAGEsame era · cross-category→ directed

Lineage: “1970s bohemian aesthetic”

These two pieces reveal how the 1970s bohemian movement split into distinct tribes: the maxi coat's severe double-breasted formality and floor-sweeping drama channels the era's more theatrical, almost monastic strain, while the wrap dress's fluid asymmetry and whimsical bee buttons capture its earthier, folk-inflected side.

Text77%

Image88%

Entity21%

Black Linen Maxi Coat with A-Line Silhouette

51%

Burgundy Cream Gold Printed Silk Maxi Caftan

Movement·Hippie / Counterculture

LINEAGEsame era · cross-category→ directed

Lineage: “1970s bohemian style”

These two pieces capture the 1970s bohemian movement from opposite poles—the black coat's severe, almost monastic simplicity against the caftan's exuberant botanical swirls in burgundy and gold.

Text64%

Image77%

Entity20%