Mary Quant - famous fashion designer and champion of arguably the most revolutionary item of clothing in the 20th century, the miniskirt - has passed away at the age of 93.
Her family, according to PA, released a statement saying that she had, 'died peacefully at home in Surrey, UK this morning.' Quant was nothing short of a pioneering force in the fashion industry. According to the V&A Museum, who staged a retrospective of her work from 2019-2020, her clothes were quite simply the definition of the Swinging Sixties. 'She represented the joyful freedom of 1960s fashion, and provided a new kind of role model for young women,' read the tribute on Instagram. 'Fashion today owes so much to her revolutionary and trailblazing vision.'
As well as being responsible for the daring 'look' of that particular era - PVC rainwear, bright tights and microscopic hemlines were all signatures, according to the V&A - Quant helped to define, 'Britain’s global identity as a centre for street style and innovation.' She put us on the map with her game-changing shop on King's Road, Bazaar, which she opened in the mid-Fifties and with her decade-defining outfits seen on the likes of Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton and Celia Hammond. A Mary Quant design - whether it was underwear or a patent pair of ankle boots - majored in personality.
The British economy was experiencing an uptick in the 1960s, which went hand-in-glove with the seismic shift happening in the world of women's fashion, where hemlines and haircuts both changed dramatically. Quant's famously angular 'do, with a full fringe and sharp sideburns, was created by another pioneer of the 1960s - Vidal Sassoon - who she eulogised very movingly in The Guardian.
'He liberated women from the punishment of hours spent under the bonnet of a hairdryer, with fat rollers digging into their scalps,' Quant wrote. 'Vidal Sassoon, the pill and the miniskirt changed everything.' Quite - it was a time of glorious self-expression and experimentation, a rebellion against the staid and proper fashion popular in the 1950s.
Of course, nowadays, no one raises an eyebrow if someone wears a microscopic skirt. And for that, they owe everything to Dame Mary Quant.