It is given to a fortunate few to be born at the right time, in the right place, with the right talents. In recent fashion there are three: Chanel, Dior, and Mary Quant.
-Ernestine Carter, fashion journalist in the 1960s
When Mary Quant was a child in the 1940s, she used to cut up her bedsheets and sew them into clothes.
She studied fashion in college and met her future husband, Alexander, there.
Mary started to make clothes for herself and her friends, an eclectic group of vibrant, 20-something artists, who despised the stuffy, conservative housewife look of the 1950s.
Using fabrics bought at Harrod's, she made short tunic dresses, low-waisted flare pants, and brightly colored tights.
In 1955, her business-minded husband helped her open a boutique, called Bazaar, in London.
She filled her shop with white, plastic knee-high lace-up boots and tight, skinny rib sweaters in stripes, and plastic raincoats in bold colors.
Inspired by ballerinas, she started selling a tiny little skirt she named after her favorite car: the Mini.
With the help of edgy fashion shows and hip window displays, she quickly became the most popular designer in London. Her clothes were shockingly daring, youthful, vibrant, flirtatious, and affordable.
The word coined by the fashion industry and media to describe her new style was "Mod."
By 1963, teenage and 20-something girls in the United States were begging for her designs. She turned her company into a global empire.
The mini skirt became such a cultural phenomenon, affluent designers, such as Yves Saint Laurent, were forced to follow in her footsteps.
She also started a cosmetic line, which introduced the world's first waterproof mascara.
The hottest supermodel of the decade, Twiggy, rocked her looks on and off the runway.
Mary and her husband club-hopped with artists and musicians and threw elaborate, wild parties at their Chelsea penthouse.
Her own personal style heavily influenced culture as well. Her Vidal Sassoon bob became the most copied haircut of the decade, and turned the hair dresser into a household name.
Although Mary and her husband seemed delightfully in love while moving around their glamorous circles, their marriage was rocky. Alexander was an alcoholic womanizer who didn't even attempt to hide his adulterous affairs from his wife. Mary was too in love with him to leave him. It was a decade sprinkled with violent fights and shattered wine glasses.
By the late 1960s, while on top of the world, she invented hotpants, which became the next big craze.
By the 1970s, however, her rock star status started waning. The hippie movement shifted style away from swinging London and into a long-haired, laid-back bohemian revolution.
In 2000, the Mary Quant empire was taken over by a Japanese company.
The fashion icon, now widowed, faded away into retirement.
Mary currently lives in the English countryside with her new man and spends most of her free time giving art lessons to her adoring grandchildren.
