Mary Quant: Fashion Trailblazer who slayed the fashion industry.

Mary Quant 1966 1966 (Alt Text: Mary Quant outside wearing a minidress with a fur coat over her shoulder in boots, with people standing behind her.)

We're fast-forwarding to the 1960s to our next fashion icon who is none other than Mary Quant. The 1940s and 50s fashion scene was dominated by European fashion designers such as Christian Dior, however in the 1960s Mary Quant had the fashion industry in the palm of her hand.

‘Quant was a self-taught designer…often credited with inventing the decade’s most iconic look: the mini skirt’.

Quant’s iconic mini skirt and mini dress came about in the mid-1960s. Quant was inspired by fashion she saw women wearing day to day, with this she experimented with hemlines and gradually the cut of the skirt was raised many inches above the knee. The mini skirt and mini dress were normally made out of wool jersey which made the garment comfortable and breathable. They came in a plethora of colours, with some sporting plain and pastel colours and others wearing them in bright, bold, in your face colours. They were very versatile garment, with them being an outfit that could be worn all year round, with in the autumn and winter months they could be worn with nylon tights and a jacket. Mary Quant in her own words describes the mini skirt as ‘The sixties mini was the most self-indulgent, optimistic ‘look at me, isn’t life wonderful’ fashion ever devised. It expressed the sixties, the emancipation of women, the Pill and rock’n’roll. It was young, liberated and exuberant. It was called the youth quake. It was the beginning of women’s lib.’. We can compare Quant’s mini skirt to having the same impact as Lady Duff Gordon’s tea gown which created a sense of women’s liberation.

Mary Quant Exhibition at V&A museum (Alt Text: Five mannequins on display wearing various Mary Quant 1960s mini dresses, from left to right colours of the dresses are, red, black and white strips, camel, black and beige and black and cream)

The impact of the mini skirt and the mini dress was apparent all over the world, with many articles being published, therefore it is clear that Quant had an impact on the fashion world, some believe it was positive and others believed it was awful. In Britain the reaction to the mini dress was quite divided, there seemed to be a fashion schism between the younger and older generation. An article written by Winefride Jackson in 1966 released by ‘The Sunday Telegraph’ showed the variation of opinions. If a teenage girl came down wearing a mini skirt it was always expected to be caught in ‘a fine old morning Sunday row’. In this article there is a sense of ageism and sizeism with Jackson saying ‘I am against the mini skirt that is too tight or on a wearer too fat or too old – that means anyone over 25’. Therefore, some would argue that the mini skirt and dress only catered to those of a certain age or size, showing that Quant’s impact was only on a limited group of women. The mini skirt made headlines when Quant collected her OBE in 1966 for her contribution to the fashion industry (another piece of evidence to show that she impacted fashion), ‘Daily Mail’ had the headline ‘Odd gear at the palace.’. This sparked controversy as so much skin was on show around royalty; however I believe this shows that the mini skirt was for all occasions and the idea of women’s liberation is prominent here. Mary Quant had no worries about showing off her legs in front of the reigning monarch of the time.

There has been discrepancy about Quant’s impact and who created the mini skirt. Some argue Quant invented it but others argue it was actually French designer Andre Courrèges was the inventor, but Quant ironically said ‘It wasn’t me or Courrèges who invented the mini skirt anyways – it was the girls on the streets who did it.’.

Family photograph of my Nan and Grandad (Alt Text: A woman on the right standing in a periwinkle dress, with a man to her left on the floor in a shirt and vest holding a dog collar)

This photo is of my Nan, another iconic Mary, taken in the 1960s wearing a beautiful, yet simple mini dress. In this photo she would have been in her early 20s. From examining this photo, it seemed like her mini dress would be made from polyester a synthetic fabric, which Quant commonly used. The fabric is in a periwinkle colour with a large black wing collar and a black strip down the middle of the dress which seems to be where the zipper was hidden. The black accent in this dress really makes the periwinkle colour pop. This clearly is a fitted garment but has a couple of inches of leeway which would make the dress more comfortable. Her legs are on show with the cut of the dress being several inches above the knee, which I’m sure my strict Irish, Catholic great-grandmother would have some words about. Nevertheless, I can assure all eyes were on my Nan, though this photo doesn’t give a great example of that seeing as my grandad is more interested in the dog. However, the mini dress gave women a liberated feeling, they were able to show off their body and be proud. Which has to be Quant’s biggest impact.

To conclude, it is safe to say that Mary Quant is a true fashion icon and is a credit to the fashion community. Her innovation of the mini skirt left young girls liberated and caused a ‘youthquake’. Controversy didn’t shake Quant, her designs were focused around making women proud of their bodies and giving them the right to show it off. Mini skirts are still popular today which shows her long-lasting impact. ‘Dame Mary’s contribution to British fashion is enormous and her influence is still felt all over the world in the clothes we wear today.’.