The mini - Mary Quant

The Skirt

"Good taste is death, vulgarity is life." Mary Quant

According to Mary Quant's own website, the mini-skirt revolution actually started in 1955, when she opened Bazaar boutique in the Kings Road, Chelsea, London. Irrespective of the truth of this (and she should know, eh?), the mini will forever be viewed as the mainstream fashion statement of the sixties.

In Mary Quant's view, her aim was to free women to move and run more easily. The miniskirt as a weapon of feminist progress?

Quant's goal was certainly to bring fashion to the high street and to make it accessible (in terms of price) to the many, rather than the few. Among Quant's innovations (or at least, the ones she's often credited with) are vinyl boots:

and coloured tights:

She also helped popularise, in collaboration with Vidal Sassoon, that other classic sixties look, the "five point" hairstyle.

This clip is worth the watch - not just because it's a genuine Quant press launch. The commentary and background music are 100% 'staid sixties'.  Quant and the "Chelsea look" may have been 'swinging' but the voice-over sounds like a refugee from Pathé News: