The miniskirt’s mother is dead – Mary Quant was 93 years old

British fashion designer Mary Quant passed away peacefully at home on Thursday morning at the age of 93, the British news agency PA reports based on a statement from the family.

“Dame Mary, aged 93, was one of the most famous fashion designers of the 20th century and an outstanding pioneer of the ‘Swinging Sixties’,” the family said in a statement. Quant is survived by a son, three grandchildren and her brother Tony Quant. Her husband Alexander Plunket Greene died in 1990.

Twiggy and the look of a generation

Born in South East London on February 11, 1930 to two Welsh teachers, Quant dreamed of becoming a designer. A dance student inspired her to create her classic outfit, which later became the look of an entire generation with the model Twiggy (actually: Lesley Lawson): Form-fitting black sweater with a super short pleated skirt, deep black tights and a bob haircut. In addition, big doe eyes with lots of mascara.

Quant started sewing clothes for himself from bedspreads and school uniforms and studied at the prestigious Goldsmiths College in London. There she met her future husband and business partner, Alexander Plunket Greene.

At the age of 21, Quant opened her first store on London’s famous King’s Road to sell clothes and accessories to fashionable people. Since no one designed the clothes she imagined, she produced her fashion herself. Her blockbuster: the miniskirt.

This sexy skirt length was not new, but the trendy designs soon hit the streets of the fashion capitals of London and New York. Because it was important to Quant to make clothes affordable, she even published the patterns of her designs.

Quant’s fashion represented women’s liberation, economic prosperity, and fun. Quant is considered one of the most influential names in the 1960s fashion world. In 1966 she was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her contribution to the fashion industry.

(yam/sda/dpa)