Mary Quant has always amongst others been acclaimed as one of designers to create with the mini-skirt look.
Despite having no formal training in business she opened her own boutique in the late 50s and her second shop which was opened in 1961. From her small empire in London she engineered the ‘Chelsea Look.’
Mary designed such popular items of 1960’s as tight, skinny rib sweaters in stripes and bold checks and knee high, white, patent plastic, lace up boots. Quant’s fashion shows and window displays were events or ‘happenings.’ She produced original clothing, that was sold in affordable prices, for a new youth-orientated market.
Mary Quant studied illustration at Goldsmith’s College and then took a job with a couture milliner, where she would spend three days stitching a hat for one customer. She came to the conclusion that fashion should not exist for the privileged few but for everyone, and especially for the young. “I had always wanted young people to have a fashion of their own, absolutely twentieth century fashion,” she wrote in her autobiography.( Quant by Quant)
In 1955 she opened Bazaar on the Kings Road, one of the first Boutiques. Quant went out to find new and interesting clothes for Bazaar. In the first week the store took five times more than she had expected. As a buyer she was not satisfied with the range of clothes available and decided that the shop would have to be stocked with clothes made by herself.
She bought a sewing machine and set it up in her bedsitter, but soon expanded, moving to a larger bedsitter where she employed a few machinists. Her designs were a big success. Her best sellers included, small white plastic collars to brighten a black sweater or dress and black stretch stockings. She experimented with balloon style dresses and by mixing large spots and checks. In the early 60s she designed the first range of coordinates ever in England with items such as sleeveless dresses and neat little pinafore dresses that featured unusual colour combination’s.
Bazaar became synonymous with the Chelsea set. “It had begun to dawn on us that by luck… by chance… perhaps even by mistake… we were on to a huge thing,” she said “We were in at the beginning of a tremendous renaissance in fashion.”
By 1961 a second Bazaar had opened in Knightsbridge and Quant decided to go wholesale, the only way to keep prices down to a level accessible to the mass market. By 1963 Quant was exporting to the USA. She went into mass-production to keep up with the demands of the US market and she launched the Ginger Group internationally. She was also presented with the Sunday Times International Award for ‘Jolting England out of it’s Conventional Attitude towards clothes.’
As her popularity grew she created the micro-mini and the ‘paint box’ make-up of 1966. She also designed shiny, plastic raincoats and little, grey pinafore dresses then producing her own range of cosmetics. In 1966 Mary Quant received her OBE for her contribution to the fashion industry. She turned up at the Palace in a mini and cut away gloves. In 1967 she said “Good taste is death. Vulgarity is life.” Her last fashion invention for the 60s were ‘Hot Pants’ which were not a great hit but the name Mary Quant had hit the limelight and she had cemented her name in British fashion history.
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Zandra Rhodes spiral Butterfly print dress is a delightful and beautiful dress from the new Zandra Rhodes Collection at M&S, this amazing British designer has a perfect knowledge of colour and pattern and her unusual prints are unlike any other. Here at Clothes Junkie we adore Zandra she is the quintessential England Rose, quirky, original and totally wacky.
This is a great book and a must read for anyone interested in the 60’s, not only does it give a real incite into Mary Quant and her inspirations, it tells the story of how 60’s London was the most amazing place to be in totally technicolour!