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Dame Mary Quant, British fashion design legend, dies at the age of 93

Lauretta Roberts
13 April 2023

Dame Mary Quant, the legendary British fashion designer attributed with the introduction of the mini skirt, has died at the age of 93.

A statement released by her family today said: "Dame Mary Quant died peacefully at home in Surrey, UK, this morning.

"Dame Mary, aged 93, was one of the most internationally recognised fashion designers of the 20th century and an outstanding innovator of the Swinging Sixties.

"She opened her first shop Bazaar in the Kings Road in 1955 and her far-sighted and creative talents quickly established a unique contribution to British fashion."

Her passing comes shortly after Dame Mary was awarded one of the highest honours in the King's first New Year's Honours List when she received the Companion of Honour award.

The special award is granted to those who have made "a major contribution to the arts, science, medicine, or government lasting over a long period of time". The members, of which there are 65 at any one time, currently include actress Dame Maggie Smith, legendary athlete Lord Coe, broadcaster Sir David Attenborough and former Prime Minister Sir John Major.

Beginning her career in demi-couture, Dame Mary quickly moved into ready-to-wear, creating clothes that played with gender stereotypes, allowing women to move freely. Popularised by Jean Shrimpton, Pattie Boyd, Cilla Black and Twiggy, Quant’s distinctive personal style, dubbed "Chelsea Girl', found a ready market among young women in London.

Dame Mary introduced the mini skirt (though who invented the design is disputed), hot pants and other styles that remain influential to this day, including coloured tights, Peter Pan collars and tailored trouser suits. The designs were widely popular globally and are credited with having inspired the launch of the high street fashion industry in the UK along with a new wave of feminism.

In 1962, Quant took on her first international collaboration with American department-store chain JC Penney, and in 1963 the company, Mary Quant Limited, expanded into the UK mass market with the diffusion line, Ginger Group. In 1966 Quant extended her business further to include cosmetics, and went on to add interiors, hosiery and jewellery, among other products, which she exported around the world.

She once said of her designs: "It was the girls on the King's Road who invented the miniskirt. I was making easy, youthful, simple clothes, in which you could move, in which you could run and jump and we would make them the length the customer wanted. I wore them very short and the customers would say, 'Shorter, shorter.'"

Dame Mary Quant in 1967

A Mary Quant retrospective at the V&A, which closed in 2020, played host to 400,000 visitors making it the museum's third most successful fashion exhibition ever, after Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams and Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.

Members of the public were invited to contribute their original Quant designs to the show which featured 120 garments as well as accessories, cosmetics, sketches and photographs – the majority of which had never been on display before.

In September 2019 the site of the trailblazing Bazaar Boutique on the King's Road was awarded with a Blue Plaque.

Dame Mary is the second King's Road fashion pioneer to pass away in recent months. Dame Vivienne Westwood, one of the founder of the punk movement who went on to become one of British fashion best-known designers, passed away in December at the age of 81. Dame Vivienne's career in fashion began on the famous Chelsea street with her SEX boutique (later the World's End).

Images: Alamy

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