Mary Quant, the fashion queen of Britain’s Swinging Sixties who popularised the miniskirt, died on Thursday, April 13, at the age of 93, her family has announced.
She ‘died peacefully at home in Surrey, UK,’ the family announced in a statement.
She was ‘one of the most internationally recognised fashion designers of the 20th century and an outstanding innovator’, according to the statement.
Quant will be remembered as one of the most innovative designers in British history.
Whether Quant actually invented the then scandalously short skirts has long been disputed, with French designer Andre Courreges insisting he was the first to raise hemlines high on the thigh.
She changed women’s fashion forever with her vision of chic clothes that provided both comfort and practicality.
Miniskirts, shift dresses and PVC are three fashion staples that Dame Mary Quant gets credit for.
Well known much for her iconic bob hairstyle as for her designs, Quant also created hot pants, the skinny rib sweater, and waterproof mascara.
As a self-taught designer, she gained her sewing skills from evening classes and would produce clothes that would then go straight on the rails at Bazaar, a boutique she opened in Markham House on the Chelsea’s King’s Road in 1955.
She’d take the money she made from a day on the shop floor and use it to produce new lines that would be made overnight and stocked the next day.
Her aesthetic was influenced by the dancers and musicians who hung around in London’s Chelsea in the late 1950s. She wanted those who wore her clothes to feel relaxed in them.
Quant opened her first boutique, Bazaar, in 1955 with her future husband and business partner Alexander Plunket Greene, who died in 1990.
Located in Chelsea, which would become the beating heart of Swinging London, the shop sold clothes and accessories and its basement restaurant became a meeting point for young people and artists.
The whole Chelsea district was soon attracting celebrities such as the actors Brigitte Bardot and Audrey Hepburn and pop stars including the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
Quant raised hemlines well above the knee, creating short dresses and skirts with simple shapes and strong colours that she described as ‘arrogant, aggressive and sexy’.
