Mary Quant, designer credited with popularizing the miniskirt, dies at 93

Mary Quant, the visionary fashion designer whose colorful and sexy miniskirts epitomized Swinging London in the 1960s and influenced youth culture around the world, has died, her family said. He is 93 years old.

Quant’s family said he died peacefully at home in Surrey, southern England, on Thursday.

Quant helped popularize the miniskirt – some credit her with inventing it – and the innovative tights that went along with it, making dresses and accessories that were an integral part of the look. They create mix-and-match, simple clothes that have an element of whimsy. Some have compared his influence on the world of fashion to that of the Beatles on pop music.

“I think it’s a happy meeting of events, which is really fashion very often,” said Hamish Bowles, international editor at American Vogue magazine. “He was the right person with the right sensibility in the right place at the right time. He appeared on the scene at the right peak of the ’60s.”

He said Quant was also a shrewd entrepreneur who was one of the first to realize how branding as a creative force could help him sustain his business and branch out into new fields, such as cosmetics.

Quant was perfectly positioned to capitalize on the “youth earthquake” that took place in the 1960s. He feels that the days of exclusive salons are numbered, and thinks that the big Parisian designers will follow the ready-to-wear trend.

Her appearance is made sexy and fun, a clear break from the predictable floral day dresses generally worn after the war, when food rations are still in place and the household budget is tight, meaning there is little disposable income.

Quant introduced the miniskirt with a hemline of up to 20 centimeters (eight inches) above the knee to the London scene in 1966 and was an instant hit with young people, partly because it shocked and offended many.

Marketing to the masses

Some insist that he first developed the style, but many also credit French designer Andre Courreges, whose spring 1964 collection included mini dresses that were popular in Paris but had no widespread influence outside of France. Another mentions the short skirt worn by actress Anne Francis in the 1956 film Forbidden Planet is the first example of a miniskirt.

Whether or not she was the first to design them, there’s no doubt that Quant knew how to market the miniskirt to the masses.

While Courreges comes from the tradition of haute couture and his clothes are expensive items for a limited audience, Quant uses a variety of materials and colors to create miniskirts popular with young women on a limited budget.

He took over the fashion scene when the Beatles and the Rolling Stones dominated the music world, and was forever linked to the heady freedom of the day.

Identify the youth market

“Change is in the air,” says Sonnet Stanfill, curator of fashion at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, which displays some of Quant’s work. “She identified a young market. And she had an understanding of what her customers wanted. After the war, there was a need for an alternative for younger women, and she really provided it.”

The dress became very popular and was worn by models like Twiggy and Pattie Boyd, who later married Beatles guitarist George Harrison.

Asked by the Guardian newspaper in 1967 if his clothes could be considered “vulgar” because they were too revealing, Quant replied that he liked vulgarity and embraced it.

“Good taste is death, vulgarity is life,” he said, adding that his model’s provocative pose reflected the new sexual openness of our time, fueled by the development of birth control pills. He said the availability of contraceptive pills made it possible for women to enjoy sex and decide for themselves whether to get pregnant.

Born on February 11, 1934, the daughter of a schoolteacher, Quant studied art education at Goldsmith’s College in London before moving into the field of fashion, first working as an apprentice at a hat maker before attempting her own designs.

With the help of her wealthy husband and business partner, Alexander Plunket Greene, and accountant Archie McNair, she opened the Bazaar in Chelsea in 1955, initially relying on innovative window displays to bring in young customers.

‘A candy store for adults’

“Snobbery has gone out of fashion, and in our shop you will find duchesses jostling with typists to buy the same dress,” Quant once said. He calls the store “a sophisticated candy store for adults.”

The bazaar became a focal point for young and beautiful people and those who wanted to do things shoulder to shoulder with them, and their presence there helped make the neighborhood a favorite place. Small restaurants, bistros and pubs are all flourishing and more boutiques are opening, giving Chelsea’s King’s Road a sense of constant partying.

The shop was so successful that he moved to another part of London and began exporting his clothes to the United States, where the “British invasion” was in full swing.

She is unusual in that she often models her own clothes, looks stunning and is always confident in her own fashion, usually wearing her signature angular bob hairstyle by hairstylist Vidal Sassoon.

She then diversified her interests, developing a popular makeup line and also moving into kitchen appliances and household accessories.

The makeover proved extremely profitable, especially in Japan, where Quant retained a loyal following.

Quant is also credited with introducing hot pants and micro-minis to the fashion scene in the late 1960s.

She was made an Officer of the British Empire for services to the fashion industry in 1966, wearing her trademark miniskirt when she received the honor at Buckingham Palace.

Quant stepped down from day-to-day management of the company, Mary Quant Ltd., in 2000 after it was acquired by a Japanese company, but continued to work as a consultant.

The company continues to use the daisy motif and logo pioneered by Quant in the 1960s, and maintains one store in London in addition to around 200 stores in Japan.