It all started on the King's Road in London in 1955. Then Mary Quant and her two business partners opened the doors to the small store Bazaar, which immediately became a success.
People queued to get in and even tried on the clothes in the middle of the shop floor.
- Mary somehow knew what ordinary girls wanted.
She read their subconscious, says former employee Derry Curry in the K Special documentary Mary Quant - the mother of the miniskirt.
The clothes Mary Quant designed were colorful, patterned and short.
Something that rebelled against the more conservative style of the 1950s.
She says herself that she wanted to create something youthful and sophisticated.
- We didn't want to look like duchesses, said Mary Quant in an interview in 1969.
The fashion followed the second wave women's movement
In the 1960s, the women's movement reawakened and in both the US and Europe women protested against structural inequality and outdated female ideals.
This was something that Mary Quant showed through her clothes – including the miniskirt.
- She met a need among women.
Not just a need, but a desire for clothes that reflected their self-image, says fashion writer Terry Newman.
The clothes have become a museum exhibit
Quant was knighted in 2015 and her creations are said to be timeless and continue to inspire great fashion designers today.
The fashion icon celebrated her 90th birthday in 2019 at the same time as her various clothing items became an exhibition that still tours museums around the world today.
Watch the entire documentary about the fashion designer Mary Quant on SVT Play.