British fashion designer Dame Mary Quant, who was widely credited with popularising the miniskirt, has died at the age of 93.
Quant died peacefully at her home in Surrey, southern England on Thursday.
“Dame Mary, aged 93, was one of the most internationally recognised fashion designers of the 20th century and an outstanding innovator of the swinging ’60s,” a statement released on behalf of her family said.
“She opened her first shop Bazaar in the Kings Road in 1955 and her far sighted and creative talents quickly established a unique contribution to British fashion.”
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Quant was one of the most influential figures in the fashion scene of the 1960s and is credited with making fashion accessible to the masses with her sleek, streamlined and vibrant designs.
Born in south-east London on February 11, 1930, Quant was the daughter of two Welsh school teachers.
She gained a diploma in the 1950s in art education at Goldsmiths College, where she met her husband Alexander Plunket Greene. He later helped establish her brand.
Quant was taken on as an apprentice to a milliner before making her own clothes. In 1955, she opened Bazaar, a boutique on the Kings Road in Chelsea.
In 2022, Quant was appointed member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in the New Year Honours list.
Alexandra Shulman, former editor-in-chief of British Vogue, paid tribute following her death, tweeting: “RIP Dame Mary Quant. A leader of fashion but also in female entrepreneurship – a visionary who was much more than a great haircut.”
The official Twitter account of the Victoria & Albert Museum, which recently hosted an exhibition about Quant’s designs, shared a tribute reading: “It’s impossible to overstate Quant’s contribution to fashion. She represented the joyful freedom of 1960s fashion, and provided a new role model for young women.
“Fashion today owes so much to her trailblazing vision.”
-PA
