The Mary Quant Beauty bus 1971.
Mary Quant is a symbol of youth rebellion of the Europe from the 60's ; of how fashion could become a weapon to transmit new ideas, in transgression, in female empowerment , in energy. She herself said it like this: “Fashion is not frivolous; It's part of being alive.
Quant epitomized the female British working class and she proved that fashion could also be fun.
From all that creativity of Quant was born the mini skirt . It is possible that in the middle of 2020 talking about miniskirts is something very normal, but in the 60s the woman wore nothing but midi skirts ; influenced by Parisian fashion and the Dior New Look.
A crazy Mary Quant cut the skirts, dressed the woman in shorts, made high boots fashionable, colored stockings irreverent makeup...
Mary Quant and Alexander Plunket Greene photograph by John Cowan 1960 Courtesy of Terence Pepper Collection Image.
All this creative scene can be known in more detail thanks to the Mary Quant exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London until February 16.
In it you can see the largest public collection of the designer in the world with more than 120 garments, as well as accessories, cosmetics, sketches and photographs, most of which have never been exhibited before.
The curious thing about this collection is that anonymous people have participated in it. In June 2018, the V&A Museum issued an appeal to everyone who owned Quant clothing. As a result, they received more than 800 responses. Of all of them, they selected 35 objects from 30 people with their personal stories included.
Thanks to the exhibition they can be seen in a total of 50 exposed photographs.
A model at the Bazaar store.
" Mary Quant transformed the fashion system , turning the haute couture domain of Paris luxury for a spin. She freed women from rules and regulations, and from dressing like her mothers. This exhibition shows how the Mary Quant brand connected with her clients, how she herself made fashion affordable for working women and how youth would revolutionize London's creative scene. Thanks to her street style londoner it continues to have global influence," says Jenny Lister, curator of Mary Quant at the V&A.
Mary Quant with Vidal Sassoon photograph by Ronald Dumont 1964.
The Mary Quant exhibition begins with the time of the postwar period in London and continues until the opening of Baza r, Quant's experimental store in Chelsea's King's Road in 1955.
In it we can see how the designer was inspired by schoolgirl uniforms and male tailoring to create her designs. Soon all this would attract the attention of fashion editors and journalists around the world. . From her shop on the King's Road she encouraged young women to rebel against the clothing of her mothers and grandmothers.
And her brand became a wholesale brand available in department stores across the UK . Quant's success soon reached America. This made her one of the first designers to make fashion accessible to all budgets.
“V&A is an iconic organization for which I have the utmost admiration and respect, and it is a great honor to be recognized by them with this exhibition dedicated . It was a wonderfully exciting time and, despite the hectic and hard work, we had a lot of fun. We didn't realize we would be pioneers, we were just too busy savoring all the opportunities. Friends have been extremely generous in lending, and in many cases, donating clothing and accessories to the V&A. I am enormously grateful to have been involved with so many talented people whose contribution to that era was innovative, revolutionary and memorable , and now she can be recognized," explained Mary Quant about the exhibition in her honor.
Kellie Wilson wearing a tie dress by Mary Quant's Ginger Group.
Address: V&A Museum, Gallery 40. See map
Schedule: Every day from 10:00 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. Fridays from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Half price: £12.00