Fashion Influential #20: Mary Quant
Mary Quant. Getty Images.MARY QUANT
Born:
February 11, 1934, Blackheath, London, England
Fan of:
Vidal Sassoon, David Bailey (once linked to Anjelica Huston)
Fans:
Japanese fashionistas, Sienna Miller, Peggy Moffitt
Beginnings.
Mary Quant always wanted to be a fashion designer. She told the BBC she once, when she was 6 or 7, got in trouble for having cut up her bedsheets to make new clothes. She went to art school, met her husband, and together they planned to open a shop in London that would sell very short skirts, stretchy tights, and tunic dresses. In 1955, they opened Bazaar in Chelsea.
Career Highs.
Quant and her husband could barely keep up with the sales at their shop, which had become a hangout for the hippest of the "Swinging London" hip. The youth were drawn to Quant's skirts, which were the shortest they'd ever been. Quant called them "miniskirts," after her favorite car, the mini. In the mid-sixties, the Quants began mass-production, bringing their London cool to the international market.
People call things vulgar when they are new to them. When they have become old they become good taste. The manufacturers who make my clothes and the people with financial interests in things I design never like anything when I first show it to them. But the critical people, the people who understand fashion, they jump at the new thing, they're excited.
- Mary Quant
Models pose in Mary Quant designs.Career Lows.
Some found Quant's tiny skirts vulgar. She said there were often "bowler-hatted gentlemen beating on the shop window with their umbrellas," but she didn't mind the criticism: "Good taste is death, vulgarity is life." Perhaps that's why she predicted pubic hair would be a fashion focus in the late '60s. Unfortunately, she was wrong. The early 70's flower generation was not so invested in store-bought fashion, leading Mary Quant to turn her focus to cosmetics and household goods.
Legacy.
Although Quant is not the only designer who claims to have invented the miniskirt, she is definitely the one who popularized it, along with other signature mod fashions. She brought exposure to strong, energetic designs in which women could move, designs that continue to reappear on today's runways.
Quant's pieces are in high demand in Japan.Get the Look.
Quant's clothing can be found on online vintage shops, like Ebay. If you're in London, Paris, New York, or Tokyo, head to one of her Color Concept shops. They mostly sell cosmetics and accessories, but you'll be able to stock up on small pieces that will pull together a truly mod look.
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