Did Mary Quant invent the mini skirt? The designer who passes away at 93 still influences fashion today

I grew up living and breathing fashion and spent every spare moment (when not watching Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly movies), devouring the pages of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. I also used to feel that I would have loved to have been around in the 1960s, simply for the fashion alone. 

When I heard the news of Dame Mary Quant’s passing, I immediately thought of the ‘mini skirt; and her iconic Vidal Sassoon legendary haircut. In 2012, The Guardian wrote that “With her miniskirts, hot pants and theatrical makeup, Mary Quant made London swing in the early 1960s.

"But her look was completed by the liberating geometric haircuts of Vidal Sassoon.”

As for whether Mary Quant actually invented the ‘mini skirt,’ there has been plenty of discussion regarding that over the years. According to the V & A Museum, “Mary Quant has often been credited with ‘inventing’ the miniskirt-the most era-defining look of the 1960s. In reality, the introduction of ‘above the knee’ skirts was a gradual process.”

Those who did argue that Mary Quant did invent the ‘mini skirt,’ said that she named it after her favourite car.

When she was made a Dame for services to British fashion in the Queen’s New Year Honours in 2014, she revealed that “It was the girls on King’s Road who invented the mini. I was making clothes which would let you run and dance and we would make them the length the customer wanted. 

One thing you can’t argue over when it comes to Mary Quant is that like the late Vivienne Westwood, her fashion legacy will live on for many generations to come.

According to Sky News, “Alexandra Shulman, former editor-in-chief of British Vogue, paid tribute to Dame Mary, writing on Twitter: ”RIP Dame Mary Quant. A leader of fashion but also in female entrepreneurship-a visionary who was much more than a great haircut.”