The 60s Mini Skirt 1960s Fashion History

Mary Quant and the Mini Skirt

By 1966 Mary Quant was producing short waist skimming mini dresses and skirts that were set 6 or 7 inches above the knee.  It would not be right to suggest she invented the fashion mini skirt. In 1965 she took the idea from the 1964 designs by Courrèges and liking the shorter styles she made them even shorter for her boutique Bazaar.  She is rightly credited with making popular a style that had not taken off when it made its earlier debut.
Quant found London girls seeking newness only too willing to try her new daring short mini skirt.  The fashion trend took off because it was so different and to wear it well you had to be youthful to get away with an outfit that was so controversial, particularly among adults. The Quant style was soon known as the Chelsea Look.  You are reading an original 'The 1960s Mini Skirt' fashion article by Pauline Weston Thomas at www.fashion-era.com ©
 Right - The length of a typical late sixties short mini skirt.
The shapes Quant designed were simple, neat, clean cut and young.  They were made from cotton gabardines and adventurous materials like PVC used in rain Macs.  They almost always featured little white girly collars.

The Mid-1960's Hairstyle

Left - The five point hairstyle that says 1960s.

Mary Quant also sported a sharply cut geometric hairstyle.  One of the most famous and favoured cuts of the era was the 5 point cut by Vidal Sassoon. The hairstyles and the short mine skirts and min dresses made the mid and late sixties fashion look.

Right - Provincial more bouffant variations of the asymmetric cut fringe circa 1968.

The Unsung Mini Skirt Inventor - John Bates

John Bates was one of the most influential British designers of the 1960s. Ernestine Carter the fashion historian thought him the unsung inventor of the mini skirt. His mini dresses were the shortest, had the barest midriffs and the models wore the least undergarments - he preferred a bra-less silhouette.  In 1959 he had set up the Jean Varon label and later a label under his own name.  His influence in the sixties was such that he dressed Diana Rigg in The Avengers series.  Other celebrities of the day such as Twiggy, Sandie Shaw, Jean Shrimpton and Dusty Springfield all wore his fashion designs. But so did the masses as he also designed for important key department stores in the UK.
John Bates has never been given enough credit for his role in the rise of the mini skirt. The facts are that John Bates was making shorter skirts long before others. But Mary Quant was the facilitator of this novel idea who was really noticed. She got the mini skirt out among trendy young girls about town and it soon became copied and popular everywhere.
Quant was copied everywhere and another famous name of the sixties was Barbara Hulanicki of Biba. Biba of course was a sixties hit with girls who loved fashionable and funky looks at a value price.