MARY QUANT : THE REVOLUTIONISER
Mary Quant has revolutionised the fashion world with her invention of the miniskirt and hot pants. She created the “Mod — Style” in “Swinging London” of the 60s and the world was full of “Chelsea Girls”!
Born in 1934 in Blackheath, Kent, UK, Mary Quant grew up in London, where she attended art studies at Goldsmith’s College of Art. In addition, she learned to create patterns. Quant also worked for the renowned mod artist Erik, his studio was on Brook Street, in the posh Mayfair district.
During her studies, she met her future husband and business associate, a wealthy family known Alexander Plunket Green.
Mary Quant opened her first small shop in 1955, which she named “Bazaar,” along with Alexander and Archie McNair, whose Café Fantasie was the scene meeting place for the Chelsea set. There she sold affordable clothing for young people, but soon began offering her own designs. “The Chelsea Girls on Kings Road invented the mini-skirt,” she once said in an interview — as the girls wanted to wear the skirts shorter and shorter. She gave the rock the name Mini, the name came from the car she loved “Mini Cooper”.
The young people in the 60s were very busy with the separation from the strict, restrictive rules of the post-war generation. Supported by a whole new kind of music coming from the Beatles, the Stones and many more , the conventional conventions in fashion were broken.
Suspenders were replaced by tights, because the skirts were so suddenly very short. It was probably the most liberating decade for the women, in addition to all the sharp scraps it also brought us the “anti-baby pill”.
Two years later, in 1957, a new shop was established where Mary designed clothing for the American JC Penney Group and founded her second brand Ginger Group, which operated internationally. Soon you could purchase clothes and lingerie and swimwear, a little later, the range was supplemented with its own line of cosmetics.
The invention of the miniskirt was her controversial John Bates, a then also known British Deigner and Andrè Courrèges, but to this day she is considered a pioneer in this segment. Again John Bates and additionally Cristóbal Balenciaga challenged their invention of the colorful tights that we still wear today to short skirts, according to my research, Mary took this very calmly. In 1963, Mary Quant was awarded “Woman of the Year”. PVC, which until then had only been used for floor coverings, turned her into fancy raincoats and designed flat, tight boots.
Later, in the 80s, British Leyland launched the Mini Cooper in Mary Quant Design. She designed the interior in black and white striped with red piping and seat belts. Steering wheel and grille inscription showed her famous logo, a stylized daisy (Daisy). 2000 units rolled off the production line in the UK, except in Jet Black and Diamond White.
In an interview, Quant said, “It was a breakthrough and it was the feeling of the times. It would be very hard to do anything today that could have such a big impact. Fashion no longer has this symbolic power. “In later years, Quant considered her invention with greater skepticism, especially in view of the fact that even portly ladies with short legs did not shy away from miniskirts or hot pants.
The fact is, Mary Quant has revolutionized fashion with the miniskirt and the hot pants.
Mary quant talks about makeup-
