Air April 2019

Opening pages:
Mary Quant and models
at the Quant Afoot
footwear collection
launch, 1967.
© PA Prints 2008
Previous pages:
Mary Quant, photograph
by Ronald Dumont,
c.1967. © Ronald
Dumont/Stringer/
Getty Images
Left:
Selecting fabric,
1967 © Rolls Press/
Popperfoto/
Getty Images
Opposite:
Model holding a
Bazaar bag c.1959
© Mary Quant Archive
AIR
to the exhibit have been worn by three
generations of women in a family, which
speaks to how timeless a lot of those
designs are, and also how well-made
they are. They stand the test of time.”
It has been 50 years since the last
major retrospective on Mary Quant,
and the interlude had a benefit for
Wood and her co-curator Jenny Lister:
half a century of hidden gems to
unearth. Preceding the exhibition, they
issued a #WeWantQuant campaign,
urging women to get in touch with
their memories and photographs of
treasured pieces. 1,000 responded.
One loan to the exhibit is a
beautiful, simple T-shaped top with
a bold pattern on it, says Wood. “The
owner bought it in 1957 straight out
of the Bazaar window – and it is
such an early piece that it predates
Mary putting her eponymous brand
label on the garments. It’s one of
the earliest pieces that exists.”
Quant also produced publicly
available patterns for women to make
their own Quant designs at home, for
a snip of the price. The V&A obtained
a dress created by a lady – an art
student at the time – who created one
of the Daddy’s Girl designs to wear for
her 21 st birthday. This again speaks
to Quant’s egalitarian ethos approach
that even if you couldn’t afford a Mary
Quant, you could make your own,
from your own choice of fabric.
It’s why her iconic silhouettes seemed
everywhere in London at the time, and
her presence didn’t stop at dresses.
“Her diversity – cosmetics, hats,
undergarments, home dressmaking
patterns, even the toy market with
the Daisy Doll – are testament to her
vision,” enthuses Wood. “This helped
establish her as one of the most varied
lifestyle brands in the world by the mid-
1970s, and the Godmother of accessible
and affordable fashion for all.”
Quant once said, “One of the things
I’ve learned is never to horde ideas,
because either they are not so relevant,
or they’ve gone stale. Whatever it is,
pour it out”– and the breadth of her
creativity stayed true to that mindset.
She produced her own line of makeup
and invented ‘Cry, baby’ waterproof
mascara. She’s associated with the
jersey mini-dress, and was one of the
first designers to promote trousers for
women (at a time where women were
often banned from wearing them in
formal settings like restaurants).
There is a misconception that Quant
invented the mini skirt, says Wood,
though she can be credited with
popularising it. “By 1967 it had become
a symbol of women’s liberation and
London fashion. It was so shocking at
the time.” The designer herself even
admitted it was “not an invention,
but an evolution; women were
demanding an ever-shorter style”.
It’s testament to how Quant was
reactively listening to her audience,
and the notion of giving women choice
means the apt timing of Introducing
Mary Quant is not lost on Wood: “In
the age of #metoo, many women are
marginalised and overlooked, which
makes it a perfect moment to celebrate
a woman who liberated people from
convention and dressing like their
mother, and gave them opportunities,”
she notes, of the exhibition’s pertinence.
“Mary could see the ability of fashion
to be more than just clothes, and
used as an opportunity for liberation,
to promote change in women.”
When the V&A launched its ticket
sales ahead the exhibition, models and
staff who worked with the designer
during the height of her fame were in
attendance, staging a ‘Quant Revival.’
“When I talked to the women who
worked with her, I learnt that she gave
opportunities to a lot of those women at
a time when nobody else would,” says
Wood. “A lot of them excelled within her
company, starting in junior positions
and within a few years were directors –
so she was pushing possibilities through
her fashion, but also to her network
of women around her. She had this
vision of a better future for women.”
The daisy print on the Quant Afoot
heel was a fleeting fashion statement,
saying ‘I was here’. But the empowering
path that Quant and her fashion
firebrands traversed was far more
profound – and more indelible, too.
Mary Quant, sponsored by
King’s Road, shows at the V&A
from 6 April 2019 – 16 February
2020. vam.ac.uk/maryquant
52