Mary Quant - Early career, The miniskirt, The Swinging Sixties, Later career

Fashion designer, inventor of the mini-skirt and hot pants, born in London, UK. She studied at Goldsmith's College of Art and designed hats for the fashionable Danish milliner, Erik. She began fashion design when she opened a small boutique in Chelsea in 1955, and married one of her partners, Alexander Plunket Greene. Her designs were an immediate success, and within seven years she had expanded to the USA and Europe, heading a multi-million dollar business. The geometric simplicity of her designs, especially the mini-skirt, and the originality of her colours, became an essential feature of the new young Chelsea look. In the 1970s she extended into cosmetics and textile design. She received the British Fashion Council's Hall of Fame Award in 1990.

Mary Quant OBE FCSD is an English fashion designer, one of the many designers who took credit for inventing the miniskirt and hot pants.

Early career

In October 1955, she teamed up with her husband Alexander Plunkett-Greene, and an accountant Archie McNair, to open a clothes shop on the Kings Road in London called Bazaar.

Following the positive reaction to a pair of "mad house pyjamas" designed for the opening, and dissatisfied with the variety of clothes available to her, Quant decided to make her own range of clothing.

The miniskirt

The skirts had been getting shorter since about 1958 — a development she considered to be practical and liberating, allowing women the ability to run for a bus. Quant named the miniskirt after her favourite make of car, the Mini.

In addition to the miniskirt, Quant is often credited with inventing the coloured and patterned tights that tended to accompany the garment, although these are also attributed to Cristobal Balenciaga.

The Swinging Sixties

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".

Quant's popularity was at its peak in the mid 1960s, during which time she produced the dangerously short micro-mini skirt, "paint-box" [make-up], and plastic raincoats.

In 1966, Quant was appointed an OBE for services to the fashion industry.

Later career

In the late 1960s, Quant launched hot pants, which was her last big fashion development.

In 1988, Quant designed the interior of the Mini (1000) Designer (Originally dubbed the Mini Quant, this name was switched when popularity charts were set against having Quant's name on the car). The seatbelts were red, and the driving and passenger seats had Quant's signature on the upper left quadrant. The steering wheel had Quant's signature daisy and the bonnet badge had "Mary Quant" written over the signature name.

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 some popularity.

Mary Quant has a son, named Orlando.