Mary Quant: The miniskirt pioneer who defined 60s fashion

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British fashion designer Mary Quant, credited with designing the miniskirt that helped to define the Swinging '60s, has died aged 93.

Let's take a look back at her life in pictures.

Mary Quant pictured in Carnaby Street, 2009Image source, PA Media

In 1955, Quant set up a shop called Bazaar just off the King's Road in London's Chelsea area, where she sold a range of clothes and accessories.

Mary Quant, clothes designer, standing outside her shop Bazaar, and looking into the shop window as a passer by would do. Mary's shop is in The Brompton Road, Knightsbridge,London, SW1, 14th October 1960.Image source, Mirrorpix

Her clothes appealed to a new generation of women who had decided they did not want to dress like their mothers.

File photo dated 01/08/67 of Mary Quant (foreground), with models showing her new shoe creations.Image source, PA
Models wear designs by Mary Quant, 1960sImage source, Alamy

She won a scholarship to London's prestigious Goldsmiths College, where she failed to complete her course but did meet future husband and business partner Alexander Plunket Greene.

Designer Mary Quant with her husband Mr Alexander Plunket Greene, 29th August 1963.Image source, Mirrorpix

It was the miniskirt more than any other garment that came to epitomise the new liberated woman.

Hems had been rising since the late 1950s - but it was Quant who popularised the style and put it out into the mass market.

MARY QUANT UK fashion designer advises a Dutch girl client about the mini skirt which she invented at her London boutique Bazaar in 197Image source, Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

An era-defining haircut by iconic stylist Vidal Sassoon was named after Quant, who was one of his celebrity clients.

The cut was a geometric five-point bob, which was worn by the fashion designer and contrasted sharply with the romantic, curly look of the 1950s.

Fashion designer Mary Quant seen here having the finishing touches made to her new hairstyle by Vidal Sassoon 12th November 1964Image source, Mirrorpix

In 1966 she was awarded an OBE for her contribution to fashion.

Mary Quant at Buckingham Palace after receiving an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for her outstanding contribution to the fashion industry, London, 15th November 1966.Image source, Getty Images

By the 1970s she had begun moving away from clothes design, eventually turning her attention to cosmetics and perfumes.

British fashion designer, Mary Quant's Beauty Bus, 1960sImage source, Alamy

The packaging was stamped with her iconic, stylised black-and-white daisy motif.

Mary Quant cosmeticsImage source, Alamy Stock Photo
The fashion designer Mary Quant is seen at work in her studio.Image source, Getty Images

Quant stepped back from the cosmetics business that bore her name when she sold it to a Japanese company in 2000.

Mary Quant at the Courthouse Hotel, London, 2009Image source, REX/Shutterstock

In an interview in 2012 she was asked whether she was ever surprised by how successful she had been.

Mary QuantImage source, Keystone Press / Alamy Stock Photo

"I mostly felt, my God, what a marvellous life you had, you are very fortunate," she said. "I think to myself, 'you lucky woman — how did you have all this fun?'"

She was made a dame in 2015.

A general view of the 'Mary Quant' exhibition, sponsored by King's Road, at the Victoria & Albert Museum from April 6 2019 to 16 February 2020, on April 3, 2019 in London, England.Image source, Getty Images

In 2019 the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, which has the largest collection of Quant clothing in the world, presented an exhibition looking at her legacy.

A general view of the 'Mary Quant' exhibition, sponsored by King's Road, at the Victoria & Albert Museum from April 6 2019 to 16 February 2020, on April 3, 2019 in London, England.Image source, Alamy

All pictures subject to copyright

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