FASHION designer Dame Mary Quant, who was widely credited with popularising the mini skirt, has died at the age of 93, her family said.
The British fashion designer died peacefully at her home in Surrey on Thursday morning, a statement from her family to the PA news agency said.
A statement released on behalf of her family said: “Dame Mary Quant died peacefully at home in Surrey, UK, this morning.
“Dame Mary, aged 93, was one of the most internationally recognised fashion designers of the 20th century and an outstanding innovator of the Swinging Sixties.”
Born in south-east London on February 11 1930, Dame Mary was the daughter of two Welsh school teachers.
She gained a diploma in the 1950s in Art Education at Goldsmith’s College, where she met her husband Alexander Plunket Greene, who later helped establish her brand, he died in 1990. The designer is survived by her son Orlando, three grandchildren and her brother Tony Quant.
Dame Mary was taken on as an apprentice to a milliner before making her own clothes and in 1955 opened Bazaar, a boutique on the King’s Road in Chelsea.
Her far-sighted and creative talents quickly established a unique contribution to British fashion.
She was one of the most influential figures in the fashion scene of the 1960s and is credited with making fashion accessible to the masses with her sleek, streamlined and vibrant designs.
Among her collection, she is arguably best known for conceiving the mini skirt and hot pants as well as helping to develop the mod style in the 1960s.
A V&A exhibition documenting the first 20 years of her career from 1955 to 1975 is set to open in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery And Museum next month following an international tour which included Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and Japan and runs in London in 2019 and Dundee in 2020.
At the time, Dame Mary said: “It was wonderfully exciting and despite the frenetic, hard work we had enormous fun.
“We didn’t necessarily realise that what we were creating was pioneering, we were simply too busy relishing all the opportunities and embracing the results before rushing on to the next challenge!”
