Dame Barbara Mary Quant (11 February 1930 – 13 April 2023) was a fashion designer and fashion icon from the United Kingdom. She played a key role in the 1960s London-based Mod and youth fashion trends.
She was one among the designers who claimed to have invented the miniskirt and hotpants. Ernestine Carter(7) stated: “A fortunate few are born at the right time, in the right place, and with the right talents. There are three in recent fashion: Chanel, Dior, and Mary Quant.”
When did Mary Quant stop?
In the early 1970s, Quant stopped manufacturing but continued to design clothing, furs, lingerie, household linens, and eyeglass frames. She also continued to direct the cosmetics business that she had started in 1955 until its sale in 2000.
In 1988, Quant created the inside of the Mini (1000) Designer (initially dubbed the Mini Quant, the name was altered because popularity polls showed that having Quant’s name on the car was unpopular). It had red trim and black-and-white striped seats.
The seatbelts were crimson, and Quant’s signature was in the upper left quadrant of the driver and passenger seats. Quant’s signature daisy was on the steering wheel, and “Mary Quant” was put over the signature name on the bonnet emblem.
Instead of the more conventional chrome or black finishes, the headlight housings, wheel arches, door handles, and bumpers were all “nimbus grey.”
Following a Japanese takeover, she resigned as director of Mary Quant Ltd, her cosmetics company, in 2000. In Japan, there are around 200 Mary Quant Colors stores.
