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
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.
divide life mud open social space swinging time village work
I divide my time between all the mud and open space in Surrey and the social life and work in London, particularly Chelsea, which still has the same village feel that it had in the swinging Sixties.
compete fashion knowing life looks outside people react tool
Fashion is a tool . . . to compete in life outside the home. People like you better, without knowing why, because people always react well to a person they like the looks of.
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.
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.
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.