FASHION QUOTE
MARY QUANT
2022 APRIL ISSUE
Written by Andrew Sia
Illustrated by Elita Lam
“Fashion should be a game”
Ernestine Carter, an American-born British museum curator, journalist and fashion writer once quoted: “It is given to a fortunate few to be born at the right time, in the right place, with the right talents. In recent fashion there are three: Chanel, Dior and Mary Quant.”
Mary Quant was born February 11, 1930 in South East London. Her parents, Jack and Mildred Quant, were both born from mining families, but somehow they had been awarded scholarships to grammar school and had both attained first-class degrees at Cardiff University. Both moved to London to work as school teachers.
Mary Quant studied in Blackheath High School and for college, her desire had been to study fashion, however her parents dissuaded her and instead she studied illustration and art education in Goldsmiths College and received her degree in 1953. She apprenticed with Erik, a high-end Mayfair milliner on Brook Street next door to the Claridge’s hotel.
She began her fashion career sourcing clothing from wholesalers for her boutique. Due to the selections of bolder and more unique pieces in her collection, she was able to draw the attention from media like Harper’s Bazaar, the leading American fashion magazine. Because of the success to draw the attention from the fashion scene for those bolder styles, she moved to design by herself. She started with a handful of sewing machine operators, and by 1966 she was working with 18 manufacturers. She was influenced by the “Chelsea Set” of artists and socialites, Quant’s design turned bolder and more unique at that time.
Quant’s success was not only from her unique designs, but also the ambiance of her boutique that she created. Music, drinks and long hours that appealed to those trendy young adults, which was different to the department stores and high-end designer stores. It provided a brand-new shopping experience for fashion.
One can associate the miniskirt to Mary Quant, and it was also described the fashion icon of the 1960s. Although André Couurèges was claimed as the original creator of the miniskirt. André Couurèges, the French designer was known for streamlines 1960s designs that were influenced by modernism and futurism. Anyway, skirts started to get shorter since the 1950s and was considered as something practical and most important, liberating.
Miniskirt was catching up with the girls on the King’s Road and it went well with the “Swinging London“ scene. Mary Quant gave miniskirt the name and also after her favorite car, the Mini. The miniskirt was feminine, and it was in the attitude and not just the appearances—wittily, lively, positive and opinionated.
In additional to the miniskirt, Quant also claimed for credits for tights in colors and patterns, she offered short shorts, which became hot pants. Later during her career, she went into household goods, including duvet.
She also offered make-up, but in 2000 she resigned as director of Mary Quant Ltd., which was her cosmetic company, after a Japanese buyout. At that time where were 200 Mary Quant Color shops in Japan.
In 1963, Mary Quant was the first winner of the Dress of the Year award. In 1966 she was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her outstanding contribution to the fashion industry. In 1990, she won the Hall of Fame Award of the British Fashion Council. In 2015 she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE).
Mary Quant also received an honorary doctorate from the Heriot-Watt University in 2006. In 2012, she was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake in a new version of his most famous artwork—the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life.
