Mary Quant ran a popular clothes shop in the Kings Road, Chelsea, London called Bazaar, from which she sold her own designs. In the late
1950s she began experimenting with shorter skirts, which resulted in the
miniskirt in 1965-one of the defining fashions of the decade.
Owing to Quant's position in the heart of fashionable "Swinging
London", the miniskirt was able to spread beyond a simple street fashion
into a major international trend. Its acceptance was greatly boosted by Jean
Shrimpton's wearing a short white shift dress, made by Colin Rolfe, on 30th
October 1965 at Derby Day, first day of the annual Melbourne Cup Carnival in
Australia, where it caused a sensation. According to Shrimpton, who claimed
that the brevity of the skirt was due mainly to Rolfe's having insufficient
material, the ensuring controversy was as much as anything to do with her
having dispensed with a hat and gloves, seen as the essential accessories in
such conservative society.
Development
The miniskirt was further popularised by Andr Courrges,
who developed it separately and incorporated it into his Mod look, for
spring/summer 1965. His miniskirts were less body-hugging, and worn with the
white "Courrges boots" that became a trademark. By introducing the
miniskirt into the haute couture of the fashion industry, Courrges gave it a
greater degree of respectability than might otherwise have been expected of a
street fashion.
The miniskirt was followed up in the late 1960s by the even
shorter micro skirt, which has been referred to derogatorily as a belt or
pelmet. Upper garments, such as rugby shirts, were sometimes adapted as mini-dresses.
Tights or panty-hose became highly fashionable, in place of stockings,
specifically because the rise in hemlines meant that stocking tops would be
visible. Mary Quant cited this development in defense of the miniskirt: "In
European countries where they ban mini-skirts in the streets and say they're an
invitation to rape, they don't understand about stocking tights underneath".
Mini Skirt
If one fashion item could sum up the 60s it would be the
mini-skirt. Opinion is split on who came up with the idea-the wise money would
probably go on a Frenchman, Jean Courreges, but our own Mary Quant is widely
accepted as having dreamt up the ever more daring hemline.
Within a year anybody who had the body to pull it off was
wearing a mini. In New York the norm was 4-5 inches above the knee but over in
Swinging London anything other than 7-8 inches above the knee was considered
positively decent!
The usual look was to pair what little was left of the skirt
with matching sweater and tights for a uniform look. When, in 1968, Jackie
Kennedy wore a white Valentino miniskirt for her wedding to Aristotle Onassis
its place at the pinnacle of fashion was confirmed.
1970s
During the mid-1970s, the fashion industry largely returned
to longer skirts such as the midi and the maxi. Journalist Christopher Booker
gave two reasons for this reaction: firstly, that "there was almost
nowhere else to go...the mini-skirts could go no higher"; and secondly, in
his view, "dressed up in mini-skirts and shiny PVC macs, given such
impersonal names as 'dolly birds', girls had been transformed into throwaway
plastic objects". Certainly this lengthening of hemlines coincided with
the growth of the feminist movement. However, in the 1960s the mini had been
regarded as a symbol of liberation, and it was worn by some, such as Germaine
Greer and, in the following decade, Gloria Steinem, who became known for their
promotion of women's issues.
