The Daisy Logo that Kept on Blossoming

As I move slowly from one glass case to the next, I’m enamored by the bold colors, playful prints, and whimsical silhouettes displayed within them. I can’t help but smile at a group of women excitedly gathering in front of a row of mannequins - all of older age now, but undoubtedly the type to have donned a Mary Quant frock in their youth. This sort of enthusiasm for Quant’s designs embodies just how impressionable she was during London’s swinging ‘60s. “The whole point of fashion is to make fashionable clothes available to everyone,” Quant famously said. This idea of bringing accessible and affordable fashion to the masses is what spurred her design revolution. In a post-WWII era, as new liberties were beginning to emerge, Quant catered to the sense of freedom felt by icons and everyday women alike at the time. 

In contrast to the dimly lit room of the V&A’s Mary Quant exhibit, the designer’s vibrant ensembles are striking beneath strategically placed spotlights. It’s evident that the room is curated to symbolize what Quant’s approach to fashion meant within the era. She recognized that fashion anticipates and her clothes represented an awakening during a time in which a drab, postwar Britain was just on the brink of social change. As I peer into each display, I’m most enamored by a dress that playfully doctors a men’s suit. With its wool tweed waistcoat, striped dress shirt, and spotted tie, the ensemble combines feminine silhouettes and familiar masculine motifs often used by Quant in her designs. In an era where gender inequality was still very much alive, this waistcoat and tie dress illustrates Quant’s “playfully rebellious approach to established gender norms in fashion,” as described by the V&A exhibit. 

As you make your way up the stairs to the second floor, you feel like you’re in an entirely different exhibit amidst the bright lights and stark white walls. I’m greeted by a row of five mannequins standing taller and with more confidence than any other. Donning the mini skirts and dresses popularised by Quant, they hover over the room un-imprisoned and with a sense of freedom reflective of what these shorter hemlines meant for women at the time. In contrast to the restrictive petticoats and caged crinoline of skirts worn by women in centuries prior, shorter skirts allowed for mobility - to run, to jump, and to have fun in. Inspired by practical school girl pinafores, Quant adapted the look for adult women. While it’s often contested that French courtier André Courrèges invented the mini skirt first, it was Quant who put it on to the streets. Styles like a classic wool jersey sweater dress show how Quant preferred to keep a woman’s upper half covered, with cleavage never featured. She wanted the Quant woman to be all leg and attitude through their teasing hemlines. She wanted them to be playful, boyish, and, more than anything, free. 

Glancing across the room, my eye was instantly drawn to a mannequin poised in a brisk walk, arms swinging at her side. Appropriately titled ‘Mood,’ the cherry red PVC zip-up raincoat epitomizes the motility and sense of comfort that Quant wanted women to feel while wearing any one of her designs. “Fashion is a tool to compete in life outside the home,” Quant remarked. She wanted women to be able to do everything they needed to do while in her clothes - whatever the occasion and whatever the mood. 

While it may seem counterintuitive to take a look back at a designer who was always looking forward to the next thing, the V&A Mary Quant exhibit shows just how timelessly contemporary her designs remain. Through various forms of curation, from simple details like lighting and to more strategic placement like display of movement, Quant’s designs are effectively brought to life in a way that reflects just how pivotal she was in shaping fashion to this day. I left the Mary Quant exhibit having gained a newfound connection to someone I thought was merely a designer of ‘60s women’s wear. I see the legacy of Mary Quant in so many of the items that fill my closet, from the comfortable jeans I reach for on the daily to the brightly hued minidress I throw on when I’m feeling more daring. For her daisy logo will only keep on blossoming, because when it comes to the influence of Mary Quant then and now are one and the same.