"The whole point of fashion is to make fashionable clothes available to everyone,"
Mary Quant
From miniskirts and hot pants to vibrant tights and makeup, Mary Quant took the sixties by colorful, riotous storm, launching a fashion revolution on the British high street and around the world. An exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London showcases over 200 garments and accessories, including unseen pieces from the designer's personal archive.
I was lucky enough to be in London for a few days of selfish pursuits which was a rare commodity for me in the midst of an overdue extended family trip to Sicily and the UK and a multi-generation family reunion to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday.
Inventive, opinionated and commercially minded, Mary Quant was undoubtedly the most iconic British fashion designer of the 1960s. A design and retail pioneer, she popularized super-high hemlines and other irreverent looks critical to the development of the 'Swinging Sixties' scene. Exhibit fashion collections include examples of her famous designs from across the 1960s and 1970s, on loan from women who responded to a call for original Quant designs hanging in their wardrobes.
I'm not sure if my mum had any original Mary Quant outfits in her closet during the years of my childhood, if she did, she didn't hang on to them, but she certainly dressed in the Quant style and likely bought affordable Mary Quant tights and makeup.
Quant was a self-taught designer, attending evening classes on cutting and adjusting mass-market printed patterns to achieve the looks she was after. Once technically proficient, she initiated a hand-to-mouth production cycle: the day's sales at Bazaar paid for the cloth that was then made up overnight into new stock for the following day. Although exhausting, this cottage-industry approach meant that the rails at Bazaar were continually refreshed with short runs of new designs, satisfying the customers' hunger for fresh, unique looks at competitive prices.
Quant's developing aesthetic was influenced by the dancers, musicians and Beatnik street chic of the Chelsea Set, and the Mods (short for 'Modernists'), a subculture that helped define London's youth culture in late-1950s Britain, with their love of Italian sportswear, sharp tailoring and clean outlines. Quant's first collections were strikingly modern in their simplicity, and very wearable. Unlike the more structured clothes still popular with couturiers, she made"relaxed clothes suited to the actions of normal life". Pairing short tunic dresses with tights in bright, stand-out colors – scarlet, ginger, prune and grape – she created a bold, high-fashion version of the sorts of practical outfits she'd worn as a child at school and at dance classes.
Quant is frequently credited with inventing the decade's most iconic look: the mini-skirt. Who first took hemlines north of the knee is up for debate, but she certainly was one of the frontrunners.
Capitalizing on the sixties love affair with new materials, Quant was the first designer to use PVC, creating 'wet look' clothes, and different styles of weatherproof boots in her footwear range, Quant Afoot.
As London's boutique scene continued to build, Quant was cementing her position as a commercial and cultural powerhouse around the world. In 1962, she signed a lucrative design contract with American department-store chain JC Penney.
In 1990 Mary Quant was awarded the prestigious Hall of Fame Award by the British Fashion Council, recognizing her outstanding contribution to British fashion. She published her second autobiography in 2012, and became a Dame in the 2015 New Year's Honors list.
The printed dress above was made for the American market in the seventies. It would not look a stitch out of place today, lovely fall colors!
Red and white platforms are a little too rock and roll for me but I would love a pair of these multi colored heeled sandals and a red pair with ankle straps further on.
The Manhattan is perhaps my favorite.
The Mary Quant exhibit runs through 16th February 2020. If you go, tickets are 12 pounds and it's a good idea to click here and book ahead to avoid lines or disappointment if the museum is too full.
Mary Quant smashed fashion norms and traditions and her designs still have a lot of influence on contemporary designs.
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