Showing the middle of the thigh not too many years ago was an act of rebellion, and Mary Quant (London, 1934) decided to deal with that word throughout her professional career. The London designer revolutionized a country that was still suffering from the vestiges of the war, with the creation of the miniskirt and the use of bright colors in each of her designs.
The daughter of two college teachers, Quant studied illustration at the Goldsmith School of Art after her parents refused to train her in the fashion industry. Shortly after finishing her degree, she married Alexander Plunket Greene, with whom she decided to start her first clothing store in 1955, which they called Bazaar. The store, located in the London neighborhood of Chelsea Kings’ Road, quickly became a famous place in the city, due to its commitment to modernity thanks to the chelsea look and bold colours, as well as excessively thin mannequins. and fun window displays.
Initially, Bazaar sold clothes by other designers, but when Quant realized he couldn’t find the clothes he really wanted to offer his clientele, he decided to make his own designs. From that moment on, the designer was inspired by young people and adolescents, with simple and colorful prototypes that completely broke with the austerity of the time. Thus, in 1965, the Londoner would achieve international recognition in the fashion industry thanks to the use of a 34 cm piece of fabric. The popular miniskirt (whose patent is being discussed with the French designer Courrèges), became a symbol of freedom and provocation that was especially adopted by the younger generations of all social classes. However, this outfit crossed generations and ended up in the wardrobe of celebrities and divas around the world.
In 1970, the designer who declared war on good taste and defended that “life was in the vulgar”, launched her own line of accessories, makeup and clothing with elements as groundbreaking as bell-bottoms, short dresses, colored leggings , shorts, openwork tops, over-the-knee boots, maxiskirts, colored raincoats and even men’s ties. Undoubtedly, a faithful representation of British swinging London fashion, which was perfectly exemplified by British model Twiggy, who was Quant’s muse for many years due to her youthful image and slim body.
Mary Quant
Although his business model was always based on quality clothing at an affordable price, with the intention of making garments that broke economic barriers and could be in as many closets as possible, it was thanks to his line of cosmetics that Quant won huge amounts of money during the ’60s, with their lurid raised eyeliners and blue nail polish.
The daisy was the symbol with which the simple and colorful style of the Londoner was identified, who became the representative of the informal and youthful fashion of the time, with models that were distributed on an industrial scale and that caused her, in multitudes, of occasions, controversies with some politicians or even with the church, which considered the Quant style totally unseemly.
Mary Quant
Currently, the revolutionary Quant lives in London and works as a consultant in a company that bears her name. With the same stylistic essence that she turned the 60s upside down, the designer assures that one of her unfulfilled dreams is to have seen former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in a miniskirt.
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