The Mary Quant Film and How She Inspires Us!

 

                     "I think the point of fashion is not to get bored looking at somebody"  Mary Quant.

Ahead of the first official feature documentary celebrating Dame Mary Quant, we wanted to dedicate a part of The Octopus Garden to the queen of style herself, and how she has influenced our handmade pieces!


Dame Barbara Mary Quant was born in 1930, and *literally* invented the mini skirt! She started designing and manufacturing her own pieces in the later 1950s after being picked up by Harper's Bazaar. She believed that clothing should be fun, contemporary and accessible to the younger generation, who at this time were finally able to afford their own clothes!


She opened her own boutique 'Bazaar' on King's Road in Chelsea in 1955, which was really the birth of the 'Mod' and 'Chelsea' looks, featuring the mini skirt and mini dress. Quant claims that she did not actually invent the mini skirt - her customers did, as they kept asking for the skirts to be shorter! A fun fact is that she named the skirt after her favourite car - the Mini Cooper!

[the classic Mary Quant 'Mod' look (left) and 'Chelsea' look (right)]

We had the joy of visiting the Quant exhibition at the V&A museum in 2020, which hugely inspired us to create our own handmade dresses - the easy-to-wear shapes, bright colours and classic O-ring zip details felt so on brand for us, so we got to work straight away! 

[Pictures we took of the Quant exhibition at the V&A museum in London]

We wanted our dresses to be as authentic as possible and also super long-lasting by making them inter-seasonal layering pieces that you can keep forever! They are made-to-order too, giving them the same inclusivity and accessibility that Quant wanted for her pieces.


Sadie Frost's documentary 'Quant' comes out on 29th October 2021, so why not dress up for the occasion?! Our handmade dresses and mini skirts pay homage to the fashion queen of the 60s, and we can't thank her enough for paving the way for the fashion we can enjoy today!

Quant believed clothes should make us look and feel amazing, and have all the fun of childhood, and we do too!! Below are some of our handmade dresses inspired by Quant and the 60s, as well as some gorgeous images from our photoshoot!

Click the photos to shop!




UPDATE (13.04.2023): RIP Mary Quant, we couldn't have done it without you.



Photographer: Chelsie Southern (@_studiodawn)
Models: Milly (@kaleidoscopemilly) and Gia (@gia.skye)
Seamstresses: Helen Ronald (@mrsronaldseamstress) and Caitlin
Styling: Caitlin (@caitlin.hare)




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