Mary Quant

Today we’re talking a little bit about Mary Quant.  All of you original Quant fans will have more than likely had a dressing table full of her nail polishes and cosmetics and I’m sure you or your friends were sporting THE hairstyle. Those of you rediscovering her as vintage, may relate the iconic flower image with your mother or grandmother.  I know I have such strong memories of being a child playing with the pretty, brightly coloured pots of nail polish with flower shaped lids on my mothers dressing table.  Whichever it is, there’s no doubting Mary Quant was pretty much a movement unto herself.  

The 60’s was really all about Quant.  After all, she is credited by many as being the designer who gave us the mini skirt and mini dresses in the early 60’s, and who later gave us hot-pants and her stunning range of tights and body stockings, really confirming her status as a British fashion icon. 

For Quant the mini skirt wasn’t just a fashion item, it was a liberating piece of clothing.  The mini-skirt allowed women to not only look how they wanted to, but also on a more practical level, she believed it gave girls the ability to move around more freely.  In the london suburbs that she was aiming at this was just what the girls needed.  In designing the Mini-skirt (apparently named after her favourite car) Quant claimed to have merely been responding to what the girls in London wanted, the higher she raised the hemlines the higher they asked for them to go.  

Lots of people also associate Mary Quant with the Mod 60’s style.  She may not have created everything herself, but she was certainly the one to make it all popular.  With her own geometrical hairstyle and eye-catching wardrobe in geometrical blacks and whites, she was and still is the image of the 60’s.  

In the 70’s and 80’s Quant went on to focus on cosmetics and household goods, designing everything from make up to bed linen, she even went on in the late 80’s to design the interior for the Mini 1000.

We adore all things Quant at Little Treasures Vintage and we are actually lucky enough to have some of her Lace body stockings in stock right now, (follow this link to have a look http://www.littletreasuresvintage.co.uk/index.php/2010/07/mary-quant-body-stockings/ ) 

Keep your eye on the website for more Quant treasures, we do get them in from time to time, we’ll try to let you know.

Keep and eye on our blog, next week we’ll be talking about Lycra and how it changed our wardrobes FOREVER!