A Love Letter to Mary Quant
First and foremost...she's a legend. Her refreshingly colourful prints and designs made a vivid impression on the 60’s youth and quickly won general popular acclaim.
Pre-Quant, young women dressed like their mothers in long, loose-fitted, petticoat-layered curtain prints. Post-Quant, they donned knee-high lace-up boots, bold plastic raincoats and fitted striped sweaters with Peter Pan collars and proudly skipped up and down the Kings Road. The creator of the miniskirt and coloured mesh tights was rightfully recognised in ’63, winning the Sunday Times International Fashion Award alongside being chosen as Woman of the Year. Gaining more and more recognition, by the end of ‘63 Quant was exporting to the US and going into mass-production to keep up with the vast demand. In what must have seemed a blink of the eye London had gone from grey to technicolour and the Mary Quant brand was born.
“I think the point of clothes, for women, should be 1) That you're noticed, 2) that you look sexy and 3) that you feel good. I can’t see that we wear them to keep warm…”- MQ
As a kid growing up I knew the name. I knew that she was the pioneer of the mini-skirt and probably pretty cool but to be honest that was about as far as my knowledge stretched. We touched on her at school when covering the 60’s but it was no doubt presented by a classmate for about twenty seconds in the middle of a ‘Why I Like The Beatles’ powerpoint.There was also every chance that I was distracted by much more interesting and pressing matters such as after-school Spanish club. Shameful I know, but bear with me - there's a reason for me telling you this.
I’m a big fan of the 60’s. Well okay, I’m basically a fan of Jagger and everything he touches. Whether that be his music, his friends and bandmates or Marianne Faithful and Anita Pallenberg (in a non porny way). Everything surrounding the Stones in the mid/late sixties seems like the sweetest of sweet spots to me. In a bid to learn more about this era, I read and re-read everything that I could lay my hands on. I also watched endless videos and interviews and became pretty familiar with all the names and faces...Bailey, Shrimton, Stamp, Sassoon, Twiggy, Fraser et al. And of course, yep you guessed it...Quant. Luckily this research coincided with the opening of the V&A’s most recent exhibition dedicated to the leading lady herself, so I eagerly popped on the shortest mini skirt I own with my matching beret and sashayed down Exhibition Road.
Excited I was but in all honesty I wasn't expecting much. Maybe lots of mannequins dressed in cool printed dresses with a low murmur of ‘Twist and Shout’ in the background. Owww...how wrong I was.
Re-iterating my opener, Mary Quant is a LEGEND. Not only are her clothes beyond beautiful to look at and totally on-trend and fashionable even today, but I was taken back by the sublime quality of each of her pieces. The lines, the cuts, the stitching and the evident workmanship behind each coat, dress, shoe and skirt were top-to-tail perfect.
"I saw no reason why childhood shouldn't last forever. So I created clothes that worked and moved and allowed people to run for the bus, to jump, to leap, to retain their precious freedom."-MQ
The V&A have graced us with two floors of Quant, her genius sprinkled… or rather poured...over both. The glass cabinets exhibiting her work are laid out like window displays, making you feel like a super trendy 60's chick strutting down the Kings road peaking into the Bazaar window (the name of Quant's boutique/shop that she, her husband Alexander Plunket-Green and their best friend Archie McNair had opened in 1955). From patent raincoats to two-piece suits, stockings to all-in-ones, the variety of Quant’s work is remarkable. It even stretches to duvet covers and an in-depth beauty range...
My personal favourite is the ‘X-Certificate’ catsuit (below) with a matching fly cap. Not only is it just immediately a super cool look that I'd kill for an opportunity to rock up to a party in but the white stitching-detail around the belt and sleeves adds a prettiness and obvious thoughtfulness that went into it’s design, much like everything else in the rest of the exhibition.
The thing that stood out most for me, after spending far too long with my nose pressed up against each glass cabinet and finally leaving, was just how contemporary all of her designs are. Some of them were created almost 60 years ago yet it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if I were to walk down any high-street and see coats, shoes, dresses and more that have been inspired by her...or that outright copy her. She was completely ahead of her time and deserves every last trickle of appreciation for liberating young women with her designs and over-turning the female conservatism that was so predominantly a part of fashion and culture.
So thank-you V&A, for introducing...or perhaps reminding...me of Mary Quant.
Here's to shorter skirts, bolder prints, Vidal Sassoon geometric haircuts...and running for the bus!
