Known as the mother of the mini skirt (although this title is disputed), Mary Quant has dedicated her life to creating bold, sexy, and fun women’s clothing . His collections have largely contributed to liberating women, causing some strangulation among the most rigorous curators in the process.
A true icon of the “ Swinging Sixties ”, Mary Quant died last April, at the age of 93.
A look back at the life of a passionate and talented designer , who never stopped reinventing herself.
From Blackheath to the concept store on King’s Road
Mary Quant was born in February 1930 in London, in the Blackheath district. She studied illustration at Goldsmiths University, also in London, where she met her future husband, Alexander Plunket Greene.
Together they opened one of the very first concept stores in England in 1955: the Bazaar. With the help of Archie McNair, a friend of the couple and future accountant, they invented a unique and daring place for the time, which combined a boutique, restaurant and sewing workshop .
Located on the famous King’s Road, the store quickly enjoyed great success. The jazz musicians who liven up the restaurant’s evenings bring young people and artists from London, then in full swing.
On the ground floor, Mary Quant runs a jewelry and hat boutique . The jewelry is made by local artists and the hats by the designer. The latter quickly learned how to create clothes and was quick to offer, in addition, colorful and very modern pieces, which were also distinguished by their materials .
In the 1960s, the Bazaar became an essential place in London, as did the creations of Mary Quant. Artists, actresses and other icons of the moment spend their evenings there. We meet Brigitte Bardot, Audrey Hepburn, the Beatles and even the Rolling Stones.
The windows, which now display sexy and provocative pieces like the mini-skirt, raise a roar from conservatives in bowler hats who pass by, but the success of the place does not falter and Mary Quant’s creations are adopted throughout England and the world.
An approach to fashion that supports changing morals
If the collections designed by Mary Quant were such a success, and continue to be talked about, it is because they were perfectly in tune with the times.
Clothes that liberate
Avant-garde without being unwearable, Mary Quant’s clothing and accessories offered women of the 1960s the opportunity to proudly display their newly acquired freedom.
Short skirt, vinyl raincoat, shorts, gathered dress… Mary Quant knew how to embrace the wind of freedom that blew through the 60s to create a new generation of fashion, freed from moral considerations and decorum.
The pop colors are applied to new materials and cuts , part of which is borrowed from the men’s wardrobe, which, again, does not fail to cause some strangulation among conservatives.
Pop makeup
In 1966, Mary Quant diversified and created her own makeup line . Like all his creations, this one is colorful, bold and sufficiently ahead of its time to create emulation.
The eyeshadows feature intense pop colors, the lipsticks are sexy and the packaging is just as remarkable. The success was such that Mary Quant created the “ make-up bus ” in 1971 , a traditional red London bus transformed into a traveling makeup salon.
This fashion UFO sets off to attack England first, then the roads all over the world, notably in Venezuela and Canada. Here again, success is achieved.
Accessible fashion
Finally, if fashion historians seem to say that Mary Quant is not really the inventor of the mini-skirt, everyone agrees that she is indeed the one who popularized it.
His creations indeed have the immense advantage of being relatively accessible compared to those of other great couturiers of the time. In addition, the stylist has also designed several collections for the huge JC Penney store chain, an institution across the Channel.
The accessibility of Mary Quant’s fashion is one of the elements highlighted by the recent exhibition dedicated to her in London. In addition to the pieces already preserved in museums, the curators went looking for clothing and accessories worn by anonymous people. These pieces allowed us to better understand the place occupied by the Mary Quant collections in people’s daily lives: how much did the pieces cost? Where were they purchased? On what occasion were they worn?
What you must remember
- Mary Quant is a British designer, leading figure of the “ Swinging Sixties ”.
- She is mainly known for popularizing the mini skirt , but her contribution to fashion history does not stop there.
- Its avant-garde collections are synonymous with women’s liberation, cheerfulness and modernity.
- Mary Quant died on April 13, 2023, at the age of 93.
