Mary Quant: British clothier dies age 93

Mary Quant: British clothier dies age 93

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Written by Samantha Tapfumaneyi, CNNLondon

British clothier Mary Quant, credited with turning the miniskirt right into a worldwide phenomenon, has died age 93, her household introduced in a press release through the PA information company.

Quant died peacefully at her residence in Surrey, south of London, on Thursday morning, in response to the assertion.

Her household referred to as her “some of the internationally recognised trend designers of the twentieth Century and an excellent innovator.”

Quant launched one of many first world tremendous manufacturers, shaping a brand new period in trend. The miniskirt, named after the Mini Cooper, grew to become a defining staple of the Swinging Sixties.

For girls who got here of age carrying them, Quant’s designs represented freedom, empowerment, and the rejection of their dad and mom’ aesthetic requirements.

Her garments, as she made clear in Sadie Frost’s 2021 documentary “Quant” about her life, weren’t meant for an elite of “stately girls,” however supplied a colourful break from the stiff sartorial codes of the earlier decade, together with the polished fashion of Christian Dior’s first assortment, “the New Look.”

Whether or not Quant did actually invent the miniskirt is a hotly debated matter — the documentary additionally mentions French designer André Courrèges because the potential creator of the garment. However she was chargeable for turning the more and more shorter skirt into the era-defining garment of the Nineteen Sixties, breaking down social codes within the course of.

And Quant’s trend empire stretched past the miniskirt, as she helped popularize different groundbreaking tendencies reminiscent of her very personal Vidal Sassoon bob; the “Chelsea woman” coquettish aesthetic; Peter Pan collars; colourful tights, created to enhance her daring and brilliant collections; her use of PVC for outerwear (one thing that beforehand had solely been worn by fishermen); male knits repurposed as womens’ sweater clothes; and costume pockets.

A gallery display of the Victoria & Albert Museum's exhibition showing pieces by Mary Quant.

A gallery show of the Victoria & Albert Museum’s exhibition exhibiting items by Mary Quant. Credit score: Dominic Lipinski/AP

Alexandra Shulman, former editor-in-chief of British Vogue, paid tribute to Quant Thursday, posting on Twitter: “RIP Dame Mary Quant. A pacesetter of trend but additionally in feminine entrepreneurship- a visionary who was far more than a terrific haircut.”

Quant labored on the advisory council for London’s Victoria & Albert Museum from 1976 to 1978 the place an exhibition of her work was held in 2019.

The museum said in a press release Thursday: “It is unattainable to overstate Quant’s contribution to trend. She represented the joyful freedom of Nineteen Sixties trend, and supplied a brand new position mannequin for younger ladies.

“Trend immediately owes a lot to her trailblazing imaginative and prescient.”

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