Died a few days ago, at 93, Mary Quant, the British fashion designer who made history for inventing the miniskirt in the 1960s. Young Mary won planetary fame—and also drew an avalanche of violent criticism because every costume revolution includes an inevitable other side of the coin—thanks to the immediate wildfire spread of that mini skirt churned out two inches above the knee which later rose to four with which she decided to disrupt the reigning formalism of the late 1950s and become the champion of the rebellion her generation was hatching in the Swinging London of the 1960s.
According to the legend, the first hem was shortened by Mary after a run behind a bus, risking missing her stop due to the hindrance of a skirt that restricted movement and freedom. According to another theory, the mini skirt is the daughter of André Courrèges, the French designer of portholes and sartorial rationalism. The truth is somewhat different: "Neither I nor Courrèges had the idea for the miniskirt. It was the street that invented it."
Mary Quant used to repeat to everyone. And she was right. For the first time in fashion history, it was not the designers who dictated the style, but the new generation. That was how that piece of cloth became a phenomenon.