Mary Quant, the famous British designer who made the miniskirt fashionable, died Thursday at the age of 93. In a statement sent by her family, it is stated that Quant “passed away peacefully this morning at her home in Surrey (UK)”.
The designer has been one of the most recognized figures of the twentieth century in the fashion world and also an outstanding innovator of the “Swinging Sixties”.
A Londoner to the core, she was born on February 11, 1930. Her dedication to design was motivated by her inability to find the kind of clothes she wanted to wear herself. She opened her first store (Bazaar) in the Chelsea neighborhood in 1955 and managed to become the meeting point of such recognizable figures as Brigitte Bardot, Audrey Hepburn or even the Rolling Stones.
During the 1960s, Quant became the face of political and cultural change in London. Although she is often not really considered the inventor, she certainly made the mini-skirt a must-have for young women’s closets. With her Vidal Sassoon haircut and her growing reputation as a Swinging London figure, she was often photographed in her evergreen miniskirt (even when she was awarded the OBE in 1966).
Their bright and colorful designs were inspired by subcultures such as mods and classic school uniforms. Although her clothes were not exactly cheap (some could exceed 100 euros today), they were still much cheaper than those of other prestigious brands. Moreover, she not only popularized miniskirts: pantyhose, waterproof mascara and the appropriation of men’s clothing were also part of her contributions to the fashion world.
Undoubtedly, she was able to attract the new generations of women, who were already working and had money to spend on clothes. As Quant said in his autobiography (a bestseller in 1966), “young women were tired of dressing like their mothers.
