Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

When Bill Gibb returned home to show Aberdonians his new fashion collection

Scenes from Bill Gibb's memorable fashion show in Cults in 1972.
Scenes from Bill Gibb's memorable fashion show in Cults in 1972.

Talent has a habit of popping up in the most unlikely of circumstances.

From a dairy farm in Fraserburgh emerged one of the most innovative international fashion designers of the late twentieth century, William Elphinstone Gibb, better known as Bill.

The family joke was that Bill was always more interested in drawing women’s dresses than milking cows.

Bill Gibb

Fortunately, his talent was spotted early, and he was awarded a scholarship to attend the Royal College of Art in London.

He left before completing his degree course to start his own business and blaze his own trail, a trail which would include dressing glitterati such as included 1960s supermodel Twiggy, actress Elizabeth Taylor and Bianca Jagger.

Bill crouched in front of a woman wearing a silk dress

Here he is in 1967 as a student, already beginning to make his name.

He’s dressing the model Wende Dicker in a Thai silk evening dress with matching lace and silk ribbon at the Hansom Cab Inn in Earl’s Court.

The humble, gentle man never forgot his Broch roots, and brought his style to north-east catwalks more than once.

Bill Gibb’s Unforgettable show in Cults

Fifty years ago this month, November 27, 1972, he laid on an unforgettable show in the Royal Darroch Hotel in Cults, Aberdeen.

A model striking an exaggerated pose- her arms up in the air and a leg kicked out. She's wearing a draped blouse and a patterned wrapped skirt along with some platformed shoes

Where other designers were emphasising simple and structured forms, Bill created a flowing Boho chic look still popular today.

This design epitomises Gibb’s love of diaphanous layering, complete with platform shoes, of course, de rigueur in  1972.

Bill styling a model wearing a white dress with faux-fur detailing

Here he is at the Cults show dressing one of his models, Priscilla.

This gown was made of white Italian jersey with generous flowing sleeves.

It had a fake fur-trimmed waistcoat and a large cat motif on the skirt.

Horizontally striped black-and-white tights are worn below it to complete the zany look.

Bill himself was a natty dresser, seen here sporting black-and-white tweed Oxford bags, a pinky orange shirt and a black-and-red tank top.

A model holding the skirt of her white dress up to show off black and white stiped tights.

Cults had never seen anything like Bill Gibb

Bill was never afraid to mix things up.

How about these football-stripe tights and platform clogs set against a flowing dress with a naval motif?

Cults had never seen anything like it.

A model posing with a striking outfit on

No fabric, colour or texture was out of bounds to Bill, and he loved to put startling combinations together.

Here pink Italian satin and leather trimmings are used on the jacket and overblouse. Black Lurex moves with the model Cathy to reveal gold and silver inverted pleats in the skirt.

A model mid-spin, showing off the swaying fabric of the dress she's wearing. The dress has layers and tassels that create movement

Here Bill uses extreme layers and trimmings for dramatic effect.

It’s a pity these aren’t in colour—were you there, and did you take your own photos?

We’d love to see them.

Bill Gibb surrounded by family, friends and models

Members of Bill’s family were there that night including (left to right) grandmother  Evelyn Reid, mother Jessie Gibb, grandfather William Reid, father George Gibb and sister Pat Davidson.

Would it be fair to say that the men look a little shell-shocked?

The models that night, seen behind the family, sported names like  Kellie, Carina, Ika, Priscilla and Kathy.

Bill’s publicist, business partner and friend Kate Franklin was also there.

One of Bill Gibb's outfits on a young female model- the outfit consists of brown patterned pieces including a plaid skirt, checked shirt and jumper vest

Timeless work

Bill’s work remains timeless and this 1970 outfit would be bang on trend today, all in shades of brown—a voile shirt, thick-knit sleeveless pullover, tartan worsted skirt with checkered tweed inset, patterned tights.

It’s worn by young actress Lesley Paterson, photographed by Patrick Lichfield in 1970 for Vogue magazine.

Bill died in 1988 of bowel cancer aged 44.

His creations now sell for hundreds, if not thousands in the vintage market, and neither the Fraserburgh loon, nor his creations, will be forgotten by the fashion world for years to come.


You might enjoy:

‘My knight in shining armour’: Twiggy on being rescued from snowdrift by much-missed friend Bill Gibb

Conversation