Mary Quant, Grand Dame of the Swinging ’60s, Has Died

Mary Quant has died at the age of 93, her family has confirmed in a statement.

When the Sixties poster girl opened her Bazaar boutique on the King’s Road in London, England in 1955 at the age of 21, she had no idea that she was about to change the direction of fashion forever, becoming the face of a global brand that encompassed everything from make-up to bedding. In her autobiography, Quant by Quant, she recalls stocking her Chelsea boutique with a “bouillabaisse of clothes and accessories… sweaters, scarves, hats, jewelry, and peculiar odds and ends,” until her boredom with post-war styles led her to create her own designs.

More than floral jumpsuits and PVC raincoats, it was Quant’s boutique itself that transformed the retail landscape and made her a household name. “We wanted to entertain people as well as sell to them,” she wrote. In lieu of the restrained displays found in other Chelsea shops, Quant filled Bazaar’s windows with surrealist installations: a photographer suspended upside down while capturing a mannequin with a flash bulb; a model with a real lobster trailing behind her on a lead; and a Harley Davidson riding out of a bright gold package.