Mary Quant
Mary Quant
Dame Barbara Mary Quant, Mrs Plunket Greene, DBE, FCSD, RDIis a Welsh fashion designer and British fashion icon...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionFashion Designer
Date of Birth11 February 1934
countries
I still like the King's Road. It is very alive; it is a hustle of things from different countries and so on. It is lovely.
allowed clothes created freedom last moved people precious reason retain saw worked
I saw no reason why childhood shouldn't last forever. So I created clothes that worked and moved and allowed people to run, to jump, to leap, to retain their precious freedom.
high sixties spirits
Most of my memories of the Sixties are ones of optimism, high spirits and confidence.
ended gardens hoping life people returned revert ten war
Let me give you an idea of Fifties Britain. The war had ended ten years before, and most people had returned to their gardens and allotments hoping life would revert to how it was before the hostilities.
liked masculine prince wales worn
I liked masculine fabrics: Prince of Wales checks, city pinstripes, and flannels - worn with black tights, flattish shoes.
diet
I have been on a diet since 1962.
pan peter school
I dressed like Leslie Caron as a teenager: soft school pleats, Peter Pan collars.
hard staying work
I didn't get fat even when I was pregnant. You have to work very hard at staying slim, and it's a bore. But it's worth it.
work
I can't imagine not working, really. I just think work's more fun than fun.
adviser design
For one thing, I am still working as an adviser on fashion, design and colour and stuff.
eating la outdoors particular passion
Eating outdoors is a particular passion - that is, eating trestle-table a la nicoise.
Coco Chanel hated me. I can understand why.
art schools
Britain has always had more art schools per capita than any other country.
teachers
As the daughter of two teachers with first-class degrees, I'd always seen myself as a duffer by comparison.