Kiki Byrne

Kiki Byrne (18 April 1937 – 3 April 2013) was a Norwegian-born, London-based fashion designer who is mainly remembered as Mary Quant's rival on the King's Road 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. Some sources suggest that this boutique was called Glass & Black,

Fashion Following its initial success, the Byrnes moved Kiki Byrne to new premises on the King's Road. Their designs offered a young alternative to the mature styles then being produced by high fashion designers. Byrne told The Sydney Morning Herald in 1958 that "only Midlands businessmen's wives can afford Michael and Hartnell". Also in 1958, Byrne collaborated with the photographer Tony Armstrong on a ski-wear collection that was featured in Vogue.

Byrne's designs, along with those of Foale & Tuffin, Sonia Rykiel, Quant, and Biba, were worn by the famously trendy Cathy McGowan on her influential music show Ready Steady Go!

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.

Later life 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.

Byrne died on 3 April 2013. She was survived by her second husband and two daughters.