Fashion and make-up designer Dame Mary Quant, credited with some of the most iconic fashion looks of the 1960s including the mini skirt, has died aged 93.
A statement from her family said she "died peacefully at home in Surrey, UK this morning". It continued: “Dame Mary, aged 93, was one of the most internationally recognised Fashion Designers of the 20th Century and an outstanding innovator of the Swinging Sixties.”
Born to Welsh schoolteachers in in south-east London on February 11, 1930, Ms Quant gained a diploma in art education at Goldsmith's College where she met her future husband, Alexander Plunket Greene, to whom she was married from 1957 until his death in 1990.
After undergoing an apprenticeship she began working as a designer when stocking her first boutique, Bazaar, on the ground floor of Markham House in Chelsea in a building purchased by her husband.
Over time, she started to sell her own designs in the boutique. The self-taught designer went on to help create some of the iconic looks of the 1960s and is widely known as the creator of the mini skirt. Her clothes were popularised by Jean Shrimpton, Pattie Boyd, Cilla Black and Twiggy.
Although other designers including André Courrèges have been given credited for the design, they were Quant's trademark and popularised by her ranges of clothes. Ms Quant apparently wanted skirts to be shorter so they were less restricting and "sexier," and is quoted as saying the wearers of miniskirts are "curiously feminine, but their femininity lies in their attitude rather than appearance... she is observant and she likes being noticed... she is lively - positive - opinionated."
Her other famous designs include the 'skinny rib' sweater and hot pants, and she was the first designer to use PVC to create 'wet look' clothes. The Victoria and Albert Museum describes her as "inventive, opinionated and commercially minded," adding: "A design and retail pioneer, she popularised super-high hemlines and other irreverent looks that were critical to the development of the 'Swinging Sixties' scene."
In 2014, she was made a dame for services to British fashion in the Queen’s New Year list. In 2020, an exhibition at the Victoria and Abert Museum about her fashion was reported to be the third-most visited fashion exhibition in the museum's history. Ms Quant was appointed a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in the New Year Honours list at the start of 2023.
In 2012, she told the Daily Mail that her fantasy 24 hours included a trip to the Pembrokeshire coast for a "bracing swim," and said she wanted to be remembered as: "The girl who made clothes and make-up that brought a touch of fun and colour into people’s lives."
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