Mary Quant, the subject of a major retrospective opening at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum this week, was the fashion queen of Britain’s Swinging Sixties.
The 85-year-old has gone down in history for popularising the mini-skirt and for making women’s clothes fun and affordable.
Whether she actually invented the iconic fashion item has been the subject of a long and bitter dispute with late French designer Andre Courreges, among others.
But her role in turning thigh-skimming super-short hemlines into an international trend has not been disputed.
Her personality and style made her “probably the most famous fashion designer that has come out of this country,” according to V&A fashion curator Jenny Lister.
“She was in the right place at the right time and that was part of her success.”