Fashion Royalty

We are lucky enough to have in our shop Mary Quant pieces; we seem to sell them pretty quickly – the last being an amazing jumper.

Mary Quant

In 1955 Quant opened her first shop called Bazaar on the Kings Road in London which sold her own designs and stock bought in by her. A few years later she went on to open her second Bazaar shop, which focused her on designing and producing her own range of clothes. This was lounge wear trousers to white plastic collars used to alter an outfit and men’s cardigans made long enough to be worn as women’s dresses. By the end of 1966 Quant worked with over 18 manufacturers of her unique designs.

Now when you think of Mary Quant you think of two things monochrome and mini shirts, but she did much more then that. She also worked under different labels like Ginger by Mary Quant, she even designed a Mary Quant mini Copper and home ware. The thing about Quant is that she is a pioneer of fashion and the relation between the social economical and sociological changes of the times in relation to fashion. Where women in the sixties can afford to buy their own clothes (they were more career minded), they did not have to conscribe to an ideal of female and fashion; because of women’s liberation (and the invention of the pill) women could wear what they want, work (all be it still in a limit career) and be a part of a movement where youth, beauty and independence (in style or lifestyle) were applauded.

Now there is lots of talk about whether Quant actually designed the mini skirt and we really will never know – but she was one of the first female designers that designed for women that broke down boundaries and moved things forward – she was a pioneer of the hot pants. So she is alright in our books. Her designs have carried on trickling into popular culture think of The Spice Girls who really took on Quant’s ideas of the power of female fashion – Geri in her union jack  mini dress and Mary Quant hot pants she wore in their first video.

Mary Quant designs still lead the way in fashion (we are really sick to death of seeing the detachable collars that are everywhere - now) .

We love her style and feel lucky to have some of her pieces in our shop.