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Mary Quant's liberating mini skirt
THE WEEK India
|April 30, 2023
Mary Quant, the British fashion designer who died last week at 93, has often been likened to The Beatles. Mostly because when she visited the US in 1966, she was greeted by a sea of fans much like the world’s most famous boy band.
A fashion designer receiving such rapturous attention was unheard of. But then, such was the power of the mini skirt, which Quant has been credited with popularising.
The jury is still out on who invented the mini skirt. French designer Andre Courrèges lays claim to it. But this is yet another cultural superiority battle between the French and the English, for which we will not get clear answers. British Vogue claims the inventor of the mini was John Bates, and neither Quant nor Courrèges. American fashion historian Valerie Steele says Quant has more evidence to support her claim.
This story is from the April 30, 2023 edition of THE WEEK India.
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