London designer Mary Quant began as an amateur and was one of the many designers who claimed to be the creator of the mini-skirt. She had an art-school background and had been designing and manufacturing her own clothes since the late 50's. Despite having no formal training in business she opened her own design house and retail boutique and introduced the 'mod' era and the 'Chelsea Look.'. She designed such popular items of 1960's fashion as knee-high, white, patent plastic, lace up boots, and tight, skinny rib sweaters in stripes and bold checks. Quant’s fashion shows and window displays were events or ‘happenings.’ She produced original clothing, that was sold in affordable boutiques, for a new youth-orientated market.

Mary Quant studied illustration at Goldsmith’s College and then took a job with a couture milliner, where she would spend three days stitching a hat for one customer. She came to the conclusion that fashion should not exist for the privileged few but for everyone, and especially for the young. "I had always wanted young people to have a fashion of their own, absolutely twentieth century fashion," she wrote in her autobiography.

In 1955 she opened Bazaar on the Kings Road, one of the first Boutiques. It was financed jointly by her boyfriend (later to become her husband) Alexander Plunkett-Green and Archie McNair. The trio loved the Chelsea Set (of which they were a part of), but knew nothing about selling clothes.

Quant went out to find new and interesting clothes for Bazaar. In the first week the store took five times more than she had expected. As a buyer she was not satisfied with the range of clothes available and decided that the shop would have to be stocked with clothes made by herself. Her decision was inspired by the reaction to a pair of ‘mad house pyjamas’ that she had designed for the opening. The pyjamas had been snatched up by Harpers Bazaar for an editorial and then taken by an American Manufacturer to copy.

She bought a sewing machine and set it up in her bedsitter, but soon expanded, moving to a larger bedsitter where she employed a few machinists. Her designs were a big success. Her best sellers included: small white plastic collars to brighten a black sweater or dress, of which she sold thousands at 2/6 dimes each, and black stretch stockings. She experimented with balloon style dresses and knicker bockers and by mixing large spots and checks. In the early 60s she designed the first range of coordinates ever in England with items such as sleeveless dresses and neat little pinafore dresses that featured unusual colour combinations.

Bazaar became synonymous with the Chelsea set. "It had begun to dawn on us that by luck... by chance... perhaps even by mistake... we were on to a huge thing," she said "We were in at the beginning of a tremendous renaissance in fashion."

By 1961 a second Bazaar had opened in Knightsbridge and Quant decided to go wholesale, the only way to keep prices down to a level accessible to the mass market. By 1963 Quant was exporting to the USA. She went into mass-production to keep up with the demands of the US market and she launched the Ginger Group internationally. She was also presented with the Sunday Times International Award for ‘Jolting England out of it's Conventional Attitude towards clothes.’

As her popularity grew she created the micro-mini and the 'paint box' make-up of 1966. She also designed shiny, plastic raincoats and little, grey pinafore dresses. She produced her own range of original patterned tights and also her own range of cosmetics. In 1966 Quant received her OBE for her contribution to the fashion industry. She turned up at the Palace in a mini and cut away gloves.

In 1967 she said "Good taste is death. Vulgarity is life." Her last fashion invention for the 60s were ‘Hot Pants.’

Last updated: June 01, 2003

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