Mary Quant
The mini skirt was an icon of the swinging sixties and many believe Mary Quant was the designer behind the hugely popular trend but although she played a huge part in bringing it to the masses- there were many more people behind the rise of this new hem line. Female First look at the story behind the mini skirt.
Mary Quant is an icon of the 1960s and her Bazaar shop on Kings Road was THE place to buy the latest swinging fashions. In 1965 Quant gave the world her mini skirt and fashion fans went crazy for the liberation of legs- however hem lines had already started to rise slowly for a few decades before.
After the war fashion was booming. The nation had survived the rations and restrictions of those hard six years and now they wanted to celebrate their freedom. The flapper girls of the 1920s had already began to wear shorter skirts but now fashion designers were getting a bit more daring too.
The person who should be rightfully credited for actually inventing the mini skirt is not known but there are a few who stand out in helping its rise to fame.
Anne Francis wore a number of tiny mini skirts for her role in the Forbidden Planet way back in 1956. This was perhaps the first time that such a small skirt had been seen on the big screen and-not surprisingly- it went down a storm with Sci-fi fans.
French designer André Courrèges is a legend in the fashion world for his innovative space-age designs in the early sixties. Among his acid colors, geometrical cuts and plastic jackets Courrèges also came up with the mini skirt which he introduced in France before Mary Quant's version but it didn't really catch on elsewhere.
Despite what came before there is no denying that Mary Quant and the mini skirt come hand in hand when most of us think of the sixties. She may not of been the first to give women the chance to show off their legs but her skirts were certainly the most popular.
Mary Quant was the heart of the London fashion scene in the sixties and once the trendy London crowd caught on to the mini skirt it wasn't long before the rest of the world wanted a piece of the mini action too. Mary also designed fab patterned tights to be worn with the new mini craze.
The rise of the mini skirt fame also had a lot to do with top supermodel and It girl of the time Jean Shrimpton. She hit headlines around the world when she wore a mini skirt by Colin Rolfe to the first day of the annual Melbourne Cup Carnival in 1965.
Both she and Roife claim the teeny size of the skirt was mostly down to the fact that the designer was running low on fabric but whatever the excuse Jean's appearance that day caused a stir and soon the whole world knew about the new mini skirt.
Since then the mini skirt has stuck around in our wardrobes season after season. The flares of the seventies saw it fade into the background slightly but it survived through the 80s shoulder pads and 90s rave and is stronger than ever at the moment.
There may be some disagreement over who invented the mini skirt and who is responsible for it's rise to fame but there is no denying that it's thanks to all those involved that us girl's can show the world our gorgeous pins whenever we like.
Caz Moss- Female First