When you think of 1960s fashion, you think of Mary Quant. The revolutionary designer changed the way young people dressed forever, encouraging them to be playful with fashion and to disregard the style of their parents and grandparents while also being one of the driving forces behind the Mod fashion movement. Heck, Quant is even credited as one of the designers who made mini skirts and hot pants a thing.
Bendigo Art Gallery pays tribute to the influential British designer with a new, exclusive exhibition, Mary Quant: Fashion Revolutionary. The exhibition showcases Quant's work between 1955 and 1975, a time when she changed the way women dressed by making clothes fun and more readily available through mass production techniques.
The exhibition comes direct from London's Victoria and Albert Museum, following a social media call out (the WeWantQuant campaign) that saw 800 women who wore Quant's clothes share their personal stories. The Bendigo Art Gallery exhibition features more than 110 colourful garments, plus accessories, cosmetics, sketches and photographs. No doubt guests will also see plenty of Quant's signature stylised daisy, which you've almost certainly seen.
Bendigo Art Gallery director, Jessica Bridgfoot, says: "Mary Quant is an icon whose fashion business emerged as a response to gloomy Post War Britain – and it comes to us at a time when we could all also use a lift."
Mary Quant: Fashion Revolutionary runs March 20 until July 11. Tickets are available now.