Mary Quantthe British designer who revolutionized fashion by popularizing the miniskirt in the 60s, passed away at age 93. This was reported by her family through social networks: she died “peacefully” at home in Surrey, in the south of England, and was “one of the best-known designers of the 20th century and an exceptional innovator.”
In recent years, Quant rarely appeared in public. She had a son named Orlando and three grandchildren. He was born on February 11, 1930 in London and at the age of 25 he opened his first store, “Bazaar”, in Chelsea.
She became known for her designs of very short dresses and skirts, with simple lines and bright colors. She but she also became famous for the “shorts” (“hot-pants”), the plastic raincoats and colorful makeup. She also for her personal style, with her famous brown bangs, the work of hairdresser Vidal Sassoon.
His clothing and accessories store quickly became a meeting point for young people and artists and attracted celebrities like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Brigitte Bardot or Audrey Hepburn.
King’s Road, where the store opened, was also transformed into a parade place for girls in miniskirts in a permanent party atmosphere characteristic of this “Swinging London” that had another nerve center in Carnaby Street.
Building on the success, he opened a second London store, collaborated with the American department store chain JC Penney, and launched a line accessible to the general public, The Ginger Group.
In her beginnings in the world of fashion, she shared them with who would later be her husband, Alexander Plunket Greene. What first caught her eye was the eccentric style of attire of the young student she met on the benches of Goldsmiths art college in London.
“It happened that my clothes matched exactly with adolescent fashion, with pop, bars (…) and jazz clubs,” he commented in “Quant by Quant”, his first autobiography, published in 1965.
Of course, her title of creator of the miniskirt made her the object of controversy and claims. Despite this, she participated in the international promotion of this garment, which revolutionized fashion throughout the world. She created a new style for the modern woman.
Former British Vogue reaction chief Alexandra Shulman called Quant “a visionary” and highlighted her “leadership in fashion but also as a businesswoman.”
“I was in the right place at the right time,” Quant explained in 2019 on the occasion of an exhibition Jenny Lister, curator in charge of fashion at the Victoria and Albert Museum, which has a hundred pieces -clothing, makeup, underwear, patterns- of the dressmaker.