Do you remember your first mini skirt? It’s been over 50 years since design Mary Quant brought the mini skirt to popular culture.
On the 50th anniversary in 2014, Quant said she couldn’t have imagined that in 1964 the miniskirt would today be such a staple of women’s clothing, but added, “It seemed to be obvious, and so right”.
“I had myself in mind when I designed it…I liked my skirts short because I wanted to run and catch the bus to get to work. It was that feeling of freedom and liberation,” she said.
Mary Quant began experimenting with shorter hemlines in the late 1950s, culminating in the creation of the mini skirt in 1964.
She said, “It was the girls on (London’s) King’s Road who invented the mini. I was making clothes, which would let you run and dance, and we would make them the length the customer wanted.
“I wore them very short and the customers would say, ‘shorter, shorter’.”
Here in Australia you probably remember when British model Jean Shrimpton caused quite a stir. She arrived at Melbourne Cup in 1965, wearing a mini dress five inches above her knees, with no hat, stockings or gloves. It was a sight!
The miniskirt was also very symbolic of the growing woman’s movement, with the image of a woman shifting from a wife and mother to an independent, confident and carefree girl who is able to display her sexuality freely.
Mini skirts have been in fashion ever since.