Shop Mary Quant Mary Quant opened Bazaar, a boutique on the King's Road, in 1955 at a time when 'fashion wasn't designed for young people'. Quant was influenced by Chelsea beatniks and dance outfits she remembered from childhood. Famed for popularising, if not inventing, the mini skirt, her clothes were made up of simple shapes combined with strong colours. By 1963 her success led to the opening of a second branch of Bazaar in Knightsbridge. She later launched the Ginger Group, a lower priced line designed to appeal to an even wider clientele. Mary Quant - Jennifer Wen 20th designers project Jennifer Wen 20th designers project (1934~present) Biography Mary Quant is a British designer, she was born in London in 1934, who began fashion revolution of miniskirt and new mod look. As a girl, Quant's school was random by her parents moved the family around the countryside. Quant's parents sent her away to a very proper, very correct the boarding school. before 1955 she studied illustration at Goldsmiths college in London.

While living on the coast one summer, Quant and her brother formed a business teaching rich visitors to sail. When the weather didn't allow boating, she stayed at home and thinking "I think I always knew that what I wanted to do most of all was to make clothes … clothes that would be fun to wear. As a very small child, I had idolized a little girl we knew who took tap dancing lessons and wore very skinny black sweaters, short black pleated skirts and long black tights, white ankle socks and black patent ankle strap shoes," Quant recalled. "How I envied her!" she expressive so colorful, that Quant was influence by her at the first time. "When I was about six and in bed with measles," she wrote, "I spent one night cutting up the bedspreads with nail scissors. Even at that age I could see that the wild color of the bedspreads would make a super dress." After finished her primary education in 1951, Quant's parents encouraged her to purchasing a career want she want "It was absolutely clear to both of us from the start that we would have to earn our own livings," she wrote. "My parents never even considered the possibility that marriage might be a way out for girls.

I was terribly aware that it was entirely my responsibility to make a success of my life." In 1955, she was 20 years old, Quant and her husband Alexander Pullen Kate Green, The "Bazaar" department store opened in London's famous King's Road. Their object is the avant-garde-oriented youth. They breaking the past old-fashioned concept, design freedom and daring costumes. Mary launched the first well-know piece of clothing is miniskirt. until 70s. Mary Quant designed indoors furniture, toys, glasses and other products also involved. in addition, In 1966, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II awarded the Mary Quant, which the British Medal of her outstanding contribution in the clothing. through the 1970's and 1980's she concentrated make-up. In 2000, she resigned as director of Mary Quant Ltd., her cosmetics company, after selling to Japanese market . There are over 200 Mary Quant Colour shops in Japan, where Quant fashions continue to enjoy the world fashion industry. (stylesight) (WSGN) critical analysis In 1960 Mary Quant made ​​a pleasant and successful trip to the United States.

cause of Americans are free and open personality inspired of her design concept. In the United States, her design became famous in american's mind. Quant designed for the U.S the first series in 1960s. The U.S. fashion magazine published her first women collection and it immediately been widely welcomed. however, actually Mary Quant design inspired since she was a girl. In 1965, she introduces very advance-guard works, such as bright colorful long stocking, raincoat, short-cropped haircut. Miniskirt inventor by Mary Quant, it was so popular at that time, it first became the focus of international fashion in the 20th century with young new image from the "School girl", "Baby Doll" in London, Quant also called it "total look" that emphasized women legs different traditional dress. People call it was a new style of London shocks ". it along with the boots, Beatles music, bringing big shock that spread around the world. Until mid sixty, the London modeling to become an international pop style. A variety of mini style was created. Queen Elizabeth's visit to the United States, when her ship arriving in New York, the United States and Britain miniskirts fashion groups organized large-scale performance.

however, even the most conservative of high fashion brand, they also cut their skirt products. Mary Quant influence by two designers, Claire McCardell and Coco Chanel. Quant focus on physical activity and clothing lightheartedness, also fluid fit on women's body. Chanel inspired her clothing young and movement, specially the collar is importance of her design, particular the white color, it can standout the outfit look. Future trends "Good designers must catch the spirit of the day and interpret it in clothes before other designers being to twitch at the nerve ends....I just happened to start when that 'something in the air' was coming to a boil." Mary Quant revolution the fashion trend in 60s. she emphasis the skirt shorter, not as traditional women dress. she created "total look" that emphasized women's leg. So far, we still wearing mini skirt, with bold color shocks or colorful shocks. In Japan, most girl still wear this style, like a school girl with old school fashion, yet luxury trends.

now many designers inspire her ideal to make their garment, such as Betsey Johnson, she followed her youth look and Miuccia Prada's Miu Miu brand label uses unusual color with synthetic fabric, it made people feels reminiscent style of Quant's 1960s design. Marc Jacob producing many A-line dress during his career, his style also reminiscent Quant too. Also Anna Sui her style pretty young style similar Quant 1960's trends. Mary Quant her design was innovation and created the new look in fashion trends, because even now, every girls have one pieces A- line dress in their closet, not only for work women, but also for modern young age. This fashion wave still involve today's fashion trend, that the girl with boots and colorful long knees stocks, seems back to 1960's old fashion style, however, this trend os very chic, it standing out women's elegant but also young look. Mary Quant opened the new generation of women have a lasting influence today. (WSGN) Heya , de la . Amy " Quant, Mary." BergFashionLibrary. 2012. Clinch, Moira . " Mary Quant. The World's Most Influential Fashion Designers.

2010 . p52 . 53 Mary Quant. Digital image . WSGN . World global style Network . Mary Quant. Digital image . Style sight . Style sight Ann T. Kellogg, Amy T. Peterson, Stefani Bay, and Natalie Swindell. Westport . " Quant , Mary " . Gale Virtual Reference Library CT: Greenwood Press, 2002. p[251]-253. Werle, Simon . Neumann Stephanie . "Mary Quant " 50 Fashion Designers . 2010 . p58. 59 Create a free website Mary Quant - Fashion Designer | Designers | The FMD Mary Quant A word from the EIC Partnerships / Cooperations Become a fashion editor on FMD Content / Usage Questions Why am I listed on FMD? How can I submit content? Credifair (credit for your work) DMCA + Content MGMT the pure fashion news agency January 19th Are Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik engaged? Ralph Lauren and Karl Lagerfeld to dress Melania Trump?

ASAP Rocky and Boy George Star in Dior Homme's New Campaign Irina Shayk Lands Two Vogue Brazil Covers Visit website About Mary Quant was the fashion designer and entrepreneur responsible for the "London Look" of the 60's. She was the inventor of the min-skirt and hot pants. She proclaimed "good taste is death, vulgarity is life" and summarized the fashion of the 60's as "arrogant, aggressive and sexy." Although she is still designing today, she is largely known for her 60's creations. Mary Quant was born in London, England on February 11th, 1934. From 1950-1953 she attended Goldsmith's College of Art in London. After graduating, she worked for Erik, a London milliner. Meanwhile , Alexander Plunket-Greene and Quant had paired up with a friend named Archie McNair. When Greene, who later became her husband, inherited 5,000 pounds on his 21st birthday, the three decided to go into business together. They rented Markham House, a three-story building on King's Road in London's artist district, Chelsea.

In Markham House, they opened a boutique on the first floor and a restaurant in the basement. They called the boutique Bazaar in 1955. Here she sold inexpensive, brightly coloured simple clothes which were immediate hits with young girls and boys. These included skinny rib jumpers, ready-to-wear short skirts and dresses, coloured tights, hipster belts, PVC garments and sleeveless crochet tops and hats. In 1957 she opened a second boutique. In 1961 Mary Quant showed her first fur collection and launched her first wholesale company. In 1962 she presented her first collection for the American market. She also started to design for J.C. PENNEY of New York. Regardless of whether she invented these items, Quant was one of their major popularisers, largely thanks to the fact that Bazaar was a popular haunt for the fashionable "Chelsea Set" of "Swinging London". By 1961, Quant had opened a second Bazaar in Knightsbridge and by 1965 she was exporting to the U.S.. To keep up with demand, Quant went into mass-production, setting up the Ginger Group in 1963.

Struggling to make ends meet and suffering ridicule from the press and some passers-by, Quant persevered. In less than ten years, her clothing designs was world famous, selling in 150 shops in Britain, 320 stores in the United States, and throughout the world: France, Italy, Switzerland, Kenya, South Africa, Australia, Canada, and more. From 1964-68 she designed for Butterick patterns. In 1965 she launched the mini-skirt in London. A fashion show was held aboard the royal yacht Queen Elizabeth and was a great hit. The same year, she took 30 outfits to the USA and the models in their thigh-high dresses stopped traffic on Broadway and in Times Square in New York. They were seen on American TV. She visited l2 cities in 14 days showing clothes to a non-stop dance routine with pop music accompaniment. She soon had built up a million pound industry, selling to nearly all the countries in the Western world and Japan, designing 28 collections a year. In 1966 Mary Quant received the O.B.E.

for her services to the fashion industry, and went to receive this honour from the Queen dressed in a mini-skirt. She published a book "Quant by Quant" in 1966. The same year, she introduced her famous and highly successful cosmetics line, with it's striking daisy logo. She also launched a footwear line. In 1967 she opened another boutique. In 1970 she introduced hot pants, tight figure-revealing short shorts, made of knit or soft materials, worn with floor length maxi-coats allowed to swing open and knee high boots. These were an instant success. During the 70's and 80's Mary Quant continued to add to her product line, putting her Daisy logo on household furnishings, towels and sheets, knitwear, men's ties, eyewear, hats and even a mod version of the Barbie doll. In 1994 she opened the Mary Quant colour shop for cosmetics and beauty products. In 1996 along with many other designers and celebrities, she joined a product making individual masks which were sold for charity and raised quite a good amount.

Her clothes have continued to sell well, even today, but she never again achieved the popularity and volume of sales that she did in the 60's. Her cosmetic line however, sells very well today. Mary Quant is now the CEO of the London house of Fraser. She also continues to work as a free-lance designer for various companies. At an age when most designers have put down their sketch pads, Mary still oversees all the creative aspects of her atelier just off London's King's Road. As part of the Queen's Jubilee celebrations, various fashion celebrities were alloted a year of the Queen's Reign. Mary Quant has been named Woman of the Year 1955. In 2000, she resigned as director of Mary Quant Ltd., her cosmetics company, after a Japanese buy-out. There are over 200 Mary Quant Colour shops in Japan, where Quant fashions continue to enjoy more popularity. Mary became a grandmother for the first time in August 2002, when her son Orlando Plunket-Greene had a son which they have called Lucas Alexander.

All the fashion shows of leading designers in New York, London, Paris and Milan - for both Summer and Fall - have been copying Quant designs. She is not at all angry about it but says she thinks it is great. The Look She was a wonderful advertisement for her own designs, her short dark Vidal Sassoon hair style with it's fringe and her easy-fitting young-looking blazer jackets, brief swinging skirts and pinafore dresses. Quant designs were slightly influenced by beat dressing but interpreted in a more considered sharper, varied style. Her concept was uncompromisingly young - ten years younger than the high fashion ideal. She designed for a girlish, less developed figure. Her dresses had simple, boat necklines or childlike, round or pointed collars and narrow shoulders and sleeves. Summer and evening dresses were frequently sleeveless and body shaping was very understated, shadowing the breasts and waist to giver a long-torsoed, slightly 20's silhouette and hip-level belts and seaming. The long-waisted look made her flared and pleated skirts look even shorter. They were in fact the shortest on record, and were worn with simple strap over shoes or long boots.

Mary's designs spoke for themselves, models enjoyed wearing her clothes at fashion shows. Her publicity and success made traditionally cautious designers alter their attitudes and want their own designs to appeal to the newly important, big spending 16 to 25 year old market. Perfumes The 1960s Mini Skirt Fashion History - Mary Quant . 1960s Talent Talent was the prerequisite to success in the 1960s. For the first time ever in any fashion era, the young became the leaders of fashion. They led with new and radically innovative fashion styles, with little girl woman androgynous looks for women that swept away the sophisticated sweater girls of the early sixties. The picture of Twiggy in the header defines her as the epitome of a sixties baby doll woman. Fifties Fashion Hangs on until 1966 In the 21st century it's easy to associate all 1960s fashion with short skirts, but the short skirt was not really worn by many until 1966 and not nationwide until 1967. Just as in the 1920s for half a decade clothes still showed signs of belonging to the late fifties.

The fore runner of the mini dress the straight shift, which had developed from the 1957 sack dress , was still well below the knee. In the early sixties, pleated skirts set on a hip yoke basque were worn with short sleeved over blouses which were cut not unlike the shell tops of today. Straight skirts had front and back inverted pleats called kick pleats and were ideal for doing the twist dance craze as they allowed the knee to move freely. Straight sweater dresses in lambswool or the synthetic acrylic variety called Orlon were worn belted with waists nipped in became fashionable. Pencil skirts were still worn with sweaters or even back to front cardigans that had been pressed super flat. Before the days of tumble driers many women lay their washed rung out knitwear in paper tissue and then brown paper. They put it to dry under a carpet for two days. When it was removed from the tissue, the footsteps that had pounded over the knit gave it a flat dry cleaned as new appearance. Laundering of delicates could still be a problem, but everything changed when mass produced synthetic garments arrived.

ï¿½ï¿½ Mary Quant and the Mini Skirt By 1966 Mary Quant was producing short waist skimming mini dresses and skirts that were set 6 or 7 inches above the knee. It would not be right to suggest she invented the fashion mini skirt. In 1965 she took the idea from the 1964 designs by Courrï¿½ges and liking the shorter styles she made them even shorter for her boutique Bazaar. She is rightly credited with making popular a style that had not taken off when it made its earlier debut. Quant found London girls seeking newness only too willing to try her new daring short mini skirt. The fashion trend took off because it was so different and to wear it well you had to be youthful to get away with an outfit that was so controversial, particularly among adults. The Quant style was soon known as the Chelsea Look. You are reading an original 'The 1960s Mini Skirt' fashion article by Pauline Weston Thomas at © Right - The length of a typical late sixties short mini skirt. The shapes Quant designed were simple, neat, clean cut and young.

They were made from cotton gabardines and adventurous materials like PVC used in rain Macs. They almost always featured little white girly collars. The Mid-1960's Hairstyle Left - The five point hairstyle that says 1960s. Mary Quant also sported a sharply cut geometric hairstyle. One of the most famous and favoured cuts of the era was the 5 point cut by Vidal Sassoon. The hairstyles and the short mine skirts and min dresses made the mid and late sixties fashion look. Right - Provincial more bouffant variations of the asymmetric cut fringe circa 1968. The Unsung Mini Skirt Inventor - John Bates John Bates was one of the most influential British designers of the 1960s. Ernestine Carter the fashion historian thought him the unsung inventor of the mini skirt. His mini dresses were the shortest, had the barest midriffs and the models wore the least undergarments - he preferred a bra-less silhouette. In 1959 he had set up the Jean Varon label and later a label under his own name. His influence in the sixties was such that he dressed Diana Rigg in The Avengers series.

Other celebrities of the day such as Twiggy, Sandie Shaw, Jean Shrimpton and Dusty Springfield all wore his fashion designs. But so did the masses as he also designed for important key department stores in the UK. John Bates has never been given enough credit for his role in the rise of the mini skirt. The facts are that John Bates was making shorter skirts long before others. But Mary Quant was the facilitator of this novel idea who was really noticed. She got the mini skirt out among trendy young girls about town and it soon became copied and popular everywhere. Quant was copied everywhere and another famous name of the sixties was Barbara Hulanicki of Biba. Biba of course was a sixties hit with girls who loved fashionable and funky looks at a value price. That Was The Week That Was ...(v4r) The London TV Saturday night programme 'That Was The Week That Was', watched by half the UK nation had some time earlier shown a model wearing a dress with a belt that enabled the model to lift the dress up showing the possible various shorter lengths that designers were forecasting hemlines would rise to in the next six months.

The audience laughed and gasped and viewers across Britain tittered, but within less than a year the shorter length was firmly established with under twenties and soon after their mothers too began wearing a short mini skirt. Typical of the era the opening lines of the show were 'that was the week that was, it's over let it go...' It was typical of the 1960's attitude of let's get on with the future, making it a very fast moving decade in fashion, lifestyles, innovations and morals. The fashion mini skirt became one of the icons that symbolized this era. You are reading an original 'The 1960s Mini Skirt' fashion article by Pauline Weston Thomas at © Death of Stockings What made the mini really acceptable was the introduction of pantyhose known mostly today as tights. It was hard to wear a mini dress with stockings and feel confident, but with tights there was protection from the elements and no unsightly glimpse of stocking tops. Stockings died in the mid 1960s and were only revived as leg wear in the 1990s or else kept for the bedroom.

Pantyhose When tights were first introduced in the 1960s it liberated women from girdles , roll-ons and suspender belts . It's difficult to know which came first the skirt or the tights, but the introduction of seamless stockings had started the tights revolution. What is certain it is unlikely the one could have existed without the other as no groomed young lady ever went out bare legged then. A pair of Wolsey tights cost about ï¿½1 in 1965 and with careful daily washing they could be made to last a month. Marks and Spencer was soon churning out lower cost versions. Obviously planned obsolescence has been introduced since then for all brands, as most of us now find it difficult to make them last for more than a day or two's wear. Tights in the late 60s were often patterned with arrangements of diamonds or other motifs and a favourite colour of the era was a golden brown called American Tan. Fishnet tights were also popular briefly. Lurex glitter tights in gold or silver were a hit for the Christmas period.

ï¿½ 1960s Footwear Lower kitten heels were a dainty alternative to stilettos Pointed toes gave way to chisel shaped toes in 1961 and to an almond toe in 1963. Flat boots also became popular with very short dresses in 1965 and eventually they rose up the leg and reached the knee. A cult for Dr. Scholl clog sandals worn in offices and outdoors was all the rage in the mid to late sixties in the same way that Birkenstocks were popular in the 1990s. Pinafores and Knits Knitted twin sets were still worn, but often the items were worn as separates. Square, V or round neck pinafore dresses in plain or tartan wool fabrics were teamed with polo neck jumpers or tie neck blouses. Other combinations were burgundy plum pinafores worn with white or mustard blouses. A sleeved variation of the button through version of the pinafore was called a coat dress and it was worn with or without a skinny rib fitting sweater. It was often worn with a half belt at the back waist.

All clothes were narrow shouldered and cut in at the armholes to properly reveal the arm and its shoulder joint. Even short sleeve versions were set well into the armscye. Left - Dresses of 1967 with cutaway armholes Baby doll dresses of 1966 were full and flared into tent shapes mostly with cutaway armholes or/and a halter neck. They were made of transparent tulles, lace or chiffons plain or tree bark mounted over a matching lining or could be made of crinkled cotton crepe fabrics. Lace of all types from Broderie Anglaise to guipure to crochet effects over coloured linings or flesh toned linings were often seen. Black polo neck sweaters made popular by the Beatles cover album were often worn under check pinafore dresses. The dresses were usually solid colours of red or purple wool material. Checks of black and white such as dog or hound's-tooth or Prince of Wales check. Black and white was a sixties combination and was used in op art dresses and block pieced dresses worked in Mondrian style. Black patent accessories complimented all these combinations.

One of the easiest ways to get the sixties look was to wear short little coloured gloves with a hole cut out to reveal the back of the hand. The gloves were similar in appearance to golf gloves of today. With the gloves coloured plastic beaded raffia knit bags and plastic coloured bangles and chandelier earrings made of large sequin discs were all high fashion accessories that lasted about 5 years. All of these trend setting outfits and accessories could easily be obtained from Wallis, Richards, Etams, Biba or Chelsea Girl shops. Marks and Spencer did their bit and brought a shorter young junior range to teen girls in an effort to cut the cost. The range did not have the added on adult purchase tax that clothes had in pre VAT days. You are reading an original 'The 1960s Mini Skirt' fashion article by Pauline Weston Thomas at © O utdoor Clothes Outdoor looks were achieved by using fabrics like wool, Terylene or cotton gabardine, corduroy, leather, suede or mock suede fabrics made up as car coats. Also cheaper alternatives such as padded nylon diamond quilted anoraks or cotton anoraks with toggles and Austrian peasant embroidered braids were quite common.

T rousers ...(v4r) The mini dominated fashion and women sometimes needed a practical alternative smarter than jeans that could be worn day or evening. Quite formal trousers worn with a tunic, shirt, skinny rib or matching suit jacket were acceptable in certain work situations and liked as alternative evening wear when made from slinkier materials. Trousers were made from Courtelle jersey, cotton velvet, silky or bulked textured Crimplenes, lace with satin, and Pucci style printed Tricel. Hipster versions were popular and very flared versions developed by the late sixties, with every style ultimately translating into denim jeans. Its worth noting that the hipsters of the 60s were not quite as low cut along the pelvic line as low rise jeans of 2005. So Many Influences on 1960's Styles Many things influenced fashion in the 1960s. Social mobility, daring fashion photography, easier travel abroad, the Vietnam war, new music of the Beatles and their much copied hairstyles, retro military and ethnic clothes, musicals, pop art and film all played a part. Right - Jackie Kennedy in the early 1960s wearing her trademark pill box hat and three quarter sleeves.

Courrï¿½ges clean cut sharp 1960's design. I have already looked at Mary Quant and the role of pantyhose, but other major 60's influences included the trend setting globally photographed Jackie Kennedy. In addition Emilio Pucci's exotic psychedelic beautiful fabric prints, Courrï¿½ges's space age sculptured designs were as important as the fresh approach to fashion as that of Yves St. Laurent. The then youthful designer Yves St.Laurent made a clean forward looking fashion design image with his Mondrian inspired dress. Yves St. Laurent's much copied Mondrian inspired shift dress. See and buy great 1960s photographs at Rock Around the Clock By the 1960s the Twist, the Shake and the Locomotion ousted the paired dancing couples of earlier generations. Only for the last few dances of the evening was the Smooch allowed for couples to romantically hold each other as they made their play to walk a partner home. Some stalwarts continued to rock and jive and to wear Teddy Boy gear.

New Synthetic Yarns in the 1960s Many of the fashions of the 1960s existed because of the fabrics. They introduced new fabric properties and when synthetics were mixed with natural fibres there was improved performance in wear. Some had been invented years earlier in the 1930s and 1940s, but it was only in the 60s that huge production plants for synthetic fibres sprang up globally. In the UK in the 1960s Marks and Spencer was instrumental in bringing Elastomerics from America to their range of bras, corsetry and bathing wear. Other manufacturers and fashion retailers soon followed. Meanwhile as man made fibres gained a hold, the Yorkshire woollen industry began to contract at an alarming rate. Job losses were inevitable and yet so often the newer man made yarn companies settled in areas where there was already a body of knowledge and a heritage of spinning, knitting or weaving. Du Pont and ICI were the giants of synthetic manufacture producing a wide range of fabrics under trade names relating to Polyamide , Polyesters, Polyurethanes, Polyolefins, and Polyacrylonitriles the polyvinyl derivative.

All the fibre bases could be used as bulked or fine yarns dependant on fibre extrusion method and final finishing. The name often related to the country or plant where the fibre was produced for example Enkalon was Irish made nylon whereas Crylor, an acrylic yarn was made in France. Polyamide is nylon. It came under trade names such as Nylon 6, Celon, Enkalon, Perlon, Bri-Nylon, Cantrece and others. Polyester was known variously as Terylene, Dacron, Terlenka, Trevira, Kodel, Diolen, Tergal and Lavsan. Polyurethane is the generic name of the elastomeric family of stretch fibres like Spandex, Lycra and Spanzelle. All these man made synthetic fibres began to be used in bras, underwear, swimwear and sportswear. Lycra eventually found its way into fabric mixes to aid crease recovery, wearing ease, fit and stretch. Polyvinyl derivatives produce polyacrylonitriles and this includes Orlon, Acrylic, Crylor, Courtelle and Creslan.

Modified acrylics such as Dynel and Teklan were first used to make fake furs and fake hair for wigs in the sixties. You are reading an original 'The 1960s Mini Skirt' fashion article by Pauline Weston Thomas at © Read more about 1950s girdles, petticoats, bras and stockings in the 1950s section. Retro 1960s, 1970s, 1980s talk format and music at tonyjamesradio.com Footnote Biba History In 1964 Barbara Hulanicki founded Biba with her husband. The team developed a small fashion shop in Abingdon Road, Kensington. The original Biba concept was the retail forerunner of low cost value fast fashion today and the type of pieces found in Primark or George at Asda. Biba sold low priced versions of high fashion items particularly the Quant mini skirt. Biba and the Biba style of make up application was also a huge sixties look. The Biba Art Deco store of the 70s was the place to be seen hanging out.

After expanding too fast, too soon, there were financial problems at Biba and Dorothy Perkins took a majority stake in the business in 1969. After some corporate machinations Barbara Hulanicki left Biba and the trademark name in 1975. Later the Biba business was sold on again. Meanwhile in the following forty years Barbara Hulanicki has had a successful career in both interiors and fashion and continues to design from barbarahulanickidesign.com As for Biba - in the late C20th decades, other licensees sold products under the Biba name. The label has a chequered past and after a much heralded fashion revival again in 2006, the trademark fell at the post again and the owner went into administration in the 2008 recession. In 2008 the UK department store House of Fraser acquired the Biba trademark name. In October 2010 after a very successful launch and sell out of some Biba pieces, House of Fraser declared Biba their top selling fashion line.

You are reading an original 'The 1960s Mini Skirt' fashion article by Pauline Weston Thomas at © Read more about 1950s girdles, petticoats, bras and stockings in the 1950s section. See and buy great 1960s photographs at If you like this page then please share it with your friends For related fashion eras of the mid twentieth century click below:- --Link-- Sketchbook of fashion designs that young Mary Quant threw at tutor in rage for dismissing her ideas goes on sale | Daily Mail Online Sketchbook of fashion designs that young Mary Quant threw at tutor in rage for dismissing her ideas goes on sale Quant is famed for inventing the mini skirt in the 1960s Was young college student when she went to Alfred Page for advice In a rage at his negative comments she threw book at him College lecturer passed sketches down through family His granddaughter is selling it in Dorchester, Dorset for £200 comments Mod fashion queen Mary Quant invented hot pants and the Chelsea Girl look, helped popularise the mini skirt, created the skinny rib sweater and changed the face of make-up for ever.

And now, a sketchbook of fashion designs that a young Mary threw at her tutor in a rage for dismissing her ideas has emerged and is for sale. Quant, famed for inventing the mini skirt in the 1960s, was a young college student when she went to Alfred Page with the book full of outlines of dresses. A sketchbook of fashion designs that a young Mary Quant threw at her tutor in a rage for dismissing her ideas in the 1940s before she shot to fame has emerged for sale She sought his opinion on a particular coloured fabric design but didn't like the answer that came back. The designer in the making became hot-headed and hurled the hefty document at Mr Page before storming out. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share The college lecturer kept hold of it and after Quant became a famous designer in the 1960s he passed it down through his family, telling them the story of how he came by it. His granddaughter has now unearthed it and has made it available for sale in Dorchester, Dorset.

Mary Quant was credited for inventing hot pants and the Chelsea Girl look and changed the face of make-up for ever Amy Brenan, from Duke's Auctioneers of Dorchester, said: 'This is a fascinating document that comes with excellent provenance. 'Although Mary Quant was a student at Goldsmith's College in the 1950s, students from all London art colleges socialised together and she met Alfred Page who was a lecturer at the Royal College of Art. 'According to the vendor, the granddaughter of Alfred Page, he told her that Quant asked for his opinion on one of the coloured fabric designs in the sketchbook. Alfred Page, her college lecturer, kept hold of the sketches and after Quant became a famous designer in the 1960s he passed it down through his family Quite a few of them have been coloured using gouache paint whilst others, like this, are just very basic pencil outlines including one of a wedding dress 'He told Quant that he didn't think it was very good, at which point she hurled the sketchbook at him and walked out in a huff. She never came back to collect the book.' There are designs and outlines on every sheet of the 20 page book.

Quant completed each design in pencil and they depict female models wearing designs for full-length evening dresses or suit combinations. Quite a few of them have been coloured using gouache paint whilst others are just very basic pencil outlines including one of a wedding dress. The sketchbook is being sold with a pre-sale estimate of £200 on April 10 Another few pages appear to be designs for printed fabrics. Although none of the sketches are signed or dated, a simple drawing of a box of Icimla face cream has helped to date it. It shows the new floral design of the cream's packaging which came into being in the 1940s, previously, the face cream had been in a jar. Amy Brenan said: 'These sketches are likely to have been done by Quant in her early years as a student, before she became famous, making them quite significant. Quant designed the kind of sexy, affordable clothes her arty friends wanted to wear; tiny tunic dresses, knickerbockers, flared hipster trousers. Then everyone else wanted them, too 'It is clear from the quality of them that they are by a very well trained and skilled hand. It is a great collection of working ideas and designs.

'It is likely Mary Quant still holds most of her own designs which makes this sketchbook quite a rarity.' The sketchbook is being sold with a pre-sale estimate of £200 on April 10. Mary Quant's revolutionary innovations were tights for mini-skirts and waterproof mascara Rewind The Fifties (Sixties Fashion) Mary Quant - Fashion Designer Mary Quant - Fashion Designer Share this article: Facebook Tweet Mary Quant was one of the most famous fashion designers of the 1960s; her best-known creation was the mini-skirt. (Accounts vary on who really invented this, for there were actually several designers who came up with the idea, including Andre Courreges - he's most famous for the "color block" style dresses. But Quant DID make the mini-skirt a worldwide sensation.) After studying illustration at art school, Quant worked for a couture milliner; she would often spend three days stitching a hat for one customer. It was while working here that the young designer decided that fashion should also exist for her peers and everyone, not just the privileged few.

With this in mind, Quant opened the London boutique, Bazaar, in 1955 (Quant herself had no previous formal business training or prior experience in selling clothes. Boyfriend-later-husband Alexander Plunkett-Green and accountant Archie McNair, who also knew nothing about selling clothes, financed the shop jointly. But the trio knew fashion, and everything clicked into place. In the first week, the shop did five times the amount of business expected!) The first best-sellers were small white plastic collars to brighten up black dresses or sweaters. These sold for the equivalent of 30 cents each. Black stretch stockings were also a popular item. Quant attempted to find new and interesting items for the shop, but as a buyer, she wasn't satisfied with the range of clothes available to her. This led to the decision to design and manufacture her own (This was also fueled in part to the positive reaction of a pair of "mad house pajamas" designed for the boutique opening by Quant. The pajamas were featured in Harpers Bazaar and then picked up by an American manufacturer to copy.

Quant was on her way.) The budding designer soon expanded from working solo to having a few machinists; by 1966, Quant was working with 18 different manufacturers. Some early experimental designs included balloon style dresses and knickerbockers. Large spots and checks were mixed. In the early 60s she designed the first range of coordinates in England with items such as sleeveless dresses and pinafore dresses featuring unusual color combinations. The store's success led to the opening of a second Bazaar shop in 1961(This was also successful.) Quant decided to go wholesale, the only way to keep prices down to an accessible level for the mass market. By 1963 she was exporting her fashions to the U.S.-the focus was on "mix and match" separates, coats, boots, stockings and accessories, thus creating a harmonized total "look". To keep up with U.S. market demands, she went into mass-production, setting up the Ginger Group internationally. The Mary Quant brand was born. By 1964, the first mini-skirts arrived in New York.

By now (and especially in London), the "mod" or "Chelsea look" was taking hold in both countries and soon, worldwide. And Mary Quant became the major fashion force outside of Paris, THE designer of the mid-60s. Besides the mini-skirt (Quant's skirt designs had been getting shorter since around 1958-she wanted women to be able to easily move around and run in them. This creation was named after her favorite brand of car, the Mini.), Quant is often credited with creating the colored and patterned tights that were worn with the mini, but these are also attributed to the noted designer Cristobal Balnenciaga. Among her numerous designs were vinyl boots (she's credited with creating white "go-go boots", but I think she helped to make them popular. I believe Andre Courreges created these. Or perhaps both designers created these separately?), dresses with strong colors and striking geometric designs, the "wet" look, the extremely short micro-mini (Men everywhere should thank this woman!), plastic raincoats, white, knee-high, lace-up boots, tight, skinny sweaters in stripes and bold checks. She developed the "paint box" make-up of 1966.

Also in June of this year, Quant received an OBE (Order of the British Empire medal) from Queen Elizabeth II for her outstanding contributions to the fashion industry (She attended the ceremony wearing a mini and cut-away gloves!). A Mary Quant fashion show, even a window display, became an event or a "happening". At the height of her fame, the designer once predicted that pubic (no, not public, PUBIC) hair would be a fashion statement in the 1970s. That suggestion was scorned, BUT no one DENIED the possibility (Aren't you glad THAT didn't happen?) She also said, at the height of the Twiggy mania (1967), that "Suddenly every girl with a hope of getting away with it is aiming to look not only under voting age, but under the age of consent." In the late 60s, Quant launched the short-lived fad of hot pants, which was her last big fashion design. In the 1970s and '80s, she concentrated on household goods and makeup, but she will always be known for her innovative, designing style that helped define the 1960s.

Copyright 1997- 20015 Loti.com All Rights Reserved. A usa-ezhost.com Web Property. Reproduction of content in whole or part is prohibited without permission. All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owners. The comments are property of their posters, all the rest Â© 1997-2009 by Rewind the Fifties This site is not harmful to Humans, Animals, Plants, Small Children or Cyber Surfers. No impact study was done as far as causing harm to the World Wide Web. Use at your own risk. These pages are for Educational and Entertainment purposes only. If you read all this then "Praise The Lowered" Biography of Mary Quant Sleeveless dress, Mary Quant, England, 1960. Museum no. T.27-1997 'What ready-to-wear does today, the couturiers -even the Paris couturiers- confirm tomorrow. It has happened several times already. I think it will go on happening.' Quant by Quant, 1966 The daughter of Welsh school teachers, Quant gained a diploma in Art Education from Goldsmith's College, London.

Here, she met the wealthy Alexander Plunket Green, who later became her business partner and husband. Apprenticed to a milliner, Quant began to make her own clothes. These were influenced by the Chelsea beatniks she knew and dance outfits she remembered from childhood lessons. In 1955, at a time when 'fashion wasn't designed for young people', Quant opened Bazaar, a boutique on the King's Road. She devised eye-catching window displays to attract customers. Her clothes were made up of simple shapes combined with strong colours like scarlet, prune and green. Prices were low compared to those charged for haute couture. By 1963 the clothes were such a success that Quant opened a second branch of the shop in Knightsbridge. She launched the Ginger Group, a lower priced line designed to appeal to an even wider clientele. Famed for popularising, if not inventing, the mini skirt, in 1966 Quant was awarded the OBE. In the early 1960s her designs were bought by the chain store J C Penney to be mass produced for the American market. The Quant label began to appear worldwide on accessories and make-up.

Question: Mary Quant became famous in the 1960s for designing what?
Answer: Clothes