Mary Quant
(Born 02/11/1934)Born in London, England.
British designer who popularized the mini skirt, coloured tights, skinny rib sweaters, low-slung hipster belts and hot pants in the 1960s. Bright, simple and well-cordinated Mary Quant's work democratized young British fashion in 'Swinging London', brought an affordable version of couture to young working women.Quant's clothes were in perfect tune with the 1960s.
.She created a 'wet' collection of PVC garments and sold vast numbers of waist-length sleeveless crochet tops. Harpers & Queen featured her spotted pyjamas. Quant's clothes were classless and appealed to young and old alike. She turned her hand to every type of clothing from underwear and stockings to all-year-round fashions. From 1962 Quant's hemlines were raised until in 1964, skirts arrived at the era-defining mini length. It was dubbed the 'gymslip of the permissive society' and Mary Quant wore one to Buckingham Palace when collecting her O.B.E. in 1966.
Trained in Fine Art at Goldsmith's College of Art in London from 1950 to 1953 and learned pattern cutting at evening classes. In 1955 worked for several months with the London milliner, Erik. Opened first Kings Road boutique Bazaar in 1955, a Chelsea boutique that sold clothes that expressed an anti-establishment sentiment, with her future husband Alexander Plunket Greene and business partner Archie McNair. Quant began by selling young fashions by various designers but soon began to make up her own garments. She had little experience of fashion, but her low priced, avant-garde clothes, geared to the teenage and young market, were an instant success and she became a household name. Quant and Greene had met at art school and together they were members of a new society of design entrepreneurs that included Terence Conran and Vidal Sassoon. This was an immediate success. Stylish and innovative youthful fashions. Her look also used matching pantyhose, a look inspired by dance rehearsal outfits. Ease, exercise and stretch; these elements add up to the foundation of modern fashion. Opened other boutiques in 1957 and 1967; launched wholesale design and manufacturing firm, Ginger Group 1963 was also a success in the USA, where she designed lines for the J. C. Penney store chain and the Puritan Fashions group. Introduced cosmetics in unprecedented colour range in 1966 with its striking daisy logo. Subsequently diversified into accessories and household designs. In 1994 opened Mary Quant Colour Shop. She has been a major design force in British fashion. Author of Quant on Quant (London: Cassell 1965). Although she has continued to design, notably knitwear lines for teh Japanese market, Quant's name will always be synonymous with the 1960s.