V&A to host first Mary Quant fashion exhibition in almost 50 years

Mary Quant's designs revolutionised British street-style

(Victoria & Albert Museum)

The Victoria and Albert Museum has announced that it will be hosting a retrospective of the British designer Mary Quant’s work.

The exhibition, due to open in April 2019, will focus on Quant’s designs between 1955 and 1975, and will be the first international retrospective of the designer’s work in almost half a century.

With unprecedented access to Quant’s fashion archive, the display will bring together over 200 objects, many of which have never been on public display.

One of Britain’s most influential designers, Quant is famous for her bright, playful clothes that sparked a movement marked by a youthful change in fashion.

Quant had no formal design training, but her understanding of what young women wanted to wear was enough to turn her into a fashion mogul. Making A-line shiftdresses with little Peter Pan collars and teaming them with knee-length boots and coloured tights, Quant’s young style was popularised by celebrities and models like Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton.

But it was the miniskirt for which Quant’s reign is remembered. Trialling different hemlines in the early 1960s, the designer eventually settled on the thigh-high mini. A debate continues to rage over which designer actually invented the miniskirt (many say it was the Parisian André Courrèges) but what is undisputed is that it was Quant who popularised it.

In an early example of bubble up fashion trends, micro hemlines were adopted on the runways of designers like Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Cardin.

Models wear underwear designed by Mary Quant. c.1966 (Victoria & Albert Museum)

The V&A’s exhibition will focus on this phenomenon, showing how Quant ‘revolutionised the high street’, through garments, accessories, sketches, photographs and film footage, going on to influence high fashion.

The liberating Quant look was widely embraced by women who found the style a welcome break from the encumbering long skirts of the preceding decade.

She 'empowered women through her determination, ingenuity and unique personal style,' the Victoria and Albert Museum states. The mini was adopted by second wave feminists, for its liberating shape and rebellious shock-factor aesthetic.

“Known for establishing high street fashion, inventing hot pants and popularising the miniskirt, she freed women from rules and regulations, and from dressing like their mothers,” says curator, Jenny Lister.

The exhibition, Lister continues, “will show how Mary made high fashion affordable for working women, and how her youthful, revolutionary clothes, inspired by London, made British street style the global influence it remains today.

Mary Quant at home in Chelsea, London. 1965 (Victoria & Albert Museum)

Curators are also seeking help from the public, to uncover any items they might be able to lend the museum and any anecdotes they might have about meeting the designer.

“To help us tell these incredible stories, we are asking people to check attics, cupboards, as well as family photo albums, for the chance to feature in our exhibition,” Lister has asked.

Dame Mary Quant says: “The V&A is such a precious and iconic organisation for which I have the utmost admiration and respect, and it is a huge honour to be recognised by them.”

The announcement comes as the V&A reveals its plans to base the design of its East London building on a Balenciaga gown.

The exhibition Mary Quant runs from 6 April 2019 – 8 March 2020. Tickets will go on sale in Autumn 2018