It wasn’t until Quant got her hands on hosiery that tights – instead of stockings – found mass-market appeal. Mary Quant and models in her shoes and tights. Her clothes were to enable women to get up and go wherever they wanted.” Saying no to stockings “She was the first to make clothes you could run for the bus in,” says retail expert Jane Shepherdson. As her godson, Jasper Conran, points out in Frost’s documentary, “The young working girl set the pace.” It’s here that contemporary workwear – the versatile, dynamic approach to dressing we take for granted – was born. For her customers, the first generation to have access to the contraceptive pill and the opportunity to plan a career and a family, liberation topped the agenda. “Clothes are a statement about what one wants to be,” said Quant. “The miniskirt represents that spirit.” The original workwear “I like very much the ideas of the younger generation right now,” noted Chiuri, ahead of her recent show. A time when young people could meet different people, listen to different music, a time when they could be themselves.” At the recent catwalk shows in Paris, this idea of the thigh-skimming garment as a symbol of optimism and youthful rebellion seemed to inspire designers again, from Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri to Alaïa’s Pieter Mulier. She brought with her “a party atmosphere”, notes Jenny Lister, curator of textiles and fashion at the Victoria and Albert Museum: “It was a renaissance. Quant, who is often credited with inventing the miniskirt (and is said to have named the style after her beloved Mini Cooper car), felt that high hemlines represented “life and tremendous opportunity”. Or perhaps it’s a sign that life is about to get considerably better. It is serendipitous that this retrospective of Quant’s lasting impact as a designer coincides with a major moment for the miniskirt. ![]() ![]() Quant wearing a miniskirt with flat boots in 1967.
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