"young women to whom they were unrelated, but to oppose it on their own wives and fiancés. In the UK, by shortening the skirts to less than they were classed as children's garments rather than adult clothes. Children's clothing was not subject to purchase tax whereas adult clothing was. The avoidance of tax meant that the price was correspondingly less. Several designers have been credited with the invention of the 1960s miniskirt, most significantly the London-based designer Mary Quant and the Parisian André Courrèges. Although Quant reportedly named the skirt after her favourite make of car, the Mini, there is"
"to the miniskirt, Quant is often credited with inventing the coloured and patterned tights that tended to accompany the garment, although their creation is also attributed to the Spanish couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga who offered harlequin-patterned tights in 1962 or to John Bates. In the late 1960s, Quant popularised hot pants and became a British fashion icon. Through the 1970s and 1980s she concentrated on household goods and make-up, rather than just her clothing lines, including the duvet which she claims to have invented. In 1988, Quant designed the interior of the Mini (1000) Designer (originally dubbed the Mini Quant, the"
"the miniskirt also came from the Paris couturier Coco Chanel,who declared the style ""disgusting"" despite being herself famed for supporting shorter skirts in the 1920s. Owing to Quant's position in the heart of fashionable ""Swinging London"", the miniskirt was able to spread beyond a simple street fashion into a major international trend. The style came into prominence when Jean Shrimpton wore a short white shift dress, made by Colin Rolfe, on 30 October 1965 at Derby Day, first day of the annual Melbourne Cup Carnival in Australia, where it caused a sensation. According to Shrimpton, who claimed that the brevity"
"Mary Quant Dame Barbara Mary Quant, Mrs Plunket Greene, DBE, FCSD, RDI (born 11 February 1934) is an English fashion designer and fashion icon, who is of Welsh heritage. She became an instrumental figure in the 1960s London-based Mod and youth fashion movements. She was one of the designers who took credit for the miniskirt and hotpants, and by promoting these and other fun fashions she encouraged young people to dress to please themselves and to treat fashion as a game. Ernestine Carter, an authoritative and influential fashion journalist of the 1950s and 1960s, wrote: ""It is given to a"
"dress"", which was a close-fitting sheath, usually covered in lace with matching long sleeves. Feather boas were occasionally worn. Famous celebrities associated with marketing the miniskirt included: Twiggy; model Jean Shrimpton, who attended an event in the Melbourne Cup Carnival in Australia wearing a miniskirt in 1965; Goldie Hawn, who appeared on ""Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In"" with her mini skirt in 1967; and Jackie Kennedy, who wore a short white pleated Valentino dress when she married Aristotle Onassis in 1968. Writer, Helen Gurley Brown, wrote Sex and the Single Girl in 1962. This book acted as a guide for women"
"decided to design and make more of the clothes she stocked, instead of buying-in stock. Initially working solo, she was soon employing a handful of machinists, and by 1966 she was working with eighteen manufacturers concurrently. For a while in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Quant was one of only two London-based high-end designers consistently offering youthful clothes for young people. The other was Kiki Byrne, who opened her boutique on the King's Road in direct competition with Quant. The miniskirt, described as one of the defining fashions of the 1960s, is one of the garments most widely associated"
"André Courrèges André Courrèges (; 9 March 1923 – 7 January 2016) was a French fashion designer. He was particularly known for his streamlined 1960s designs influenced by modernism and futurism, exploiting modern technology and new fabrics. Courrèges defined the go-go boot and along with Mary Quant, is one of the designers credited with inventing the miniskirt. Courrèges was born in the city of Pau within the Basque region of the Pyrenees. He wanted to pursue design in art school but his father, a butler disapproved his passion as he wanted him to be an engineer. Courrèges attended École Nationale"
"with Quant. While she is often cited as the inventor of the style, this claim has been challenged by others. Marit Allen, a contemporary fashion journalist and editor of the influential ""Young Ideas"" pages for UK ""Vogue"", firmly stated that another British fashion designer, John Bates, rather than Quant or André Courrèges, was the original creator of the miniskirt. Others credit Courrèges with the invention of the style. However, skirts had been getting shorter since the 1950s—a development Quant considered practical and liberating, allowing women the ability to run for a bus. Quant later said, ""It was the girls on"
"things were almost immoral and the New Look was totally irrelevant to us."" Miniskirts became popular in London and Paris and the term ""Chelsea Look"" was coined. Andre Courreges was a French fashion designer who also began experimenting with hemlines in the early 1960s. He started to show space-age dresses that hit above the knee in late 1964. His designs were more structured and sophisticated than Quant's design. This made the miniskirt more acceptable to the French public. His clothes represented a couture version of the ""Youthquake"" street style and heralded the arrival of the ""moon girl"" look. As teen"
"keep their clothes clean. Many female mods dressed androgynously, with short haircuts, men's trousers or shirts, flat shoes, and little makeup — often just pale foundation, brown eye shadow, white or pale lipstick and false eyelashes. Miniskirts became progressively shorter between the early and mid-1960s. As female mod fashion became more mainstream, slender models like Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy began to exemplify the mod look. Maverick fashion designers emerged, such as Mary Quant, who was known for her miniskirt designs, and John Stephen, who sold a line named ""His Clothes"" and whose clients included bands such as Small Faces. The"
"one of the most important fashion developments of the decade and was widely copied."" Controversy over who created the idea for the miniskirt revolves around Courrèges and Mary Quant. He explicitly claimed to have invented, accusing his London rival to the claim, Mary Quant of merely ""commercialising"" it. Courrèges presented short skirts (four inches above the knee) in January 1965 for that year's Spring/Summer collection. He had presented ""above-the-knee"" skirts in the previous year, with his August 1964 haute couture presentation proclaimed the ""best show seen so far"" for that season by ""The New York Times"". Valerie Steele has stated"
"look with bobbed haircuts and progressively less modest clothing. At the start of the decade skirts were knee-length, but steadily became shorter and shorter until the mini-skirt emerged in 1965. By the end of the decade they had shot well above the stocking top, making the transition to tights inevitable. Many of the radical changes in fashion developed in the streets of London, with such gifted designers as Mary Quant (known for launching the mini skirt) and Barbara Hulanicki (the founder of the legendary boutique Biba). Paris also had its share of new and revolutionary designers, including Pierre Cardin (known"
"that Courrèges was designing short skirts as early as 1961, although she champions Quant's claim to have created the miniskirt first as being more convincingly supported by evidence. Others, such as Jess Cartner-Morley of ""The Guardian"" explicitly credit Courrèges with having invented the miniskirt. The Independent also stated that ""Courreges was the inventor of the miniskirt: at least in his eyes and those of the French fashion fraternity ... The argument came down to high fashion vs street fashion and to France versus Britain – there's no conclusive evidence either way."" Alongside short skirts, Courrèges was renowned for his trouser"
"reject the idealized femininity of the 1950s. In England, the emerging generation was bored of the couture houses' conservative designs and instead looked to boutiques to reinvent their style. This was a time in society when teenagers were able to explore their own identities and had the freedom to push boundaries due to post-World War II conditions. The boutique saw the start of the London ready-to-wear industry as people flocked for mass-produced clothing at a lower price point than its predecessors. Mary Quant, often credited for inventing the mini-skirt, was a leader in the boutique movement and attributed her primary"
"John Bates, rather than Quant or Courrèges, innovated the miniskirt had an influential champion in Marit Allen, who as editor of the influential ""Young Ideas"" pages for UK ""Vogue"", kept track of up-and-coming young designers. In 1966 she chose Bates to design her mini-length wedding outfit in white gabardine and silver PVC. In January 1965 Bates's ""skimp dress"" with its ""short-short skirt"" was featured in ""Vogue,"" and would later be chosen as the Dress of the Year. Bates was also famous for having designed mini-coats and dresses and other outfits for Emma Peel (played by Diana Rigg) in the TV"
"map, the Spitfire, and the red telephone box. Courrèges explicitly claimed that he invented the mini, and accused Quant of only ""commercialising"" it. He presented short skirts measuring four inches above the knee in January 1965 for that year's Spring/Summer collection, although some sources claim that Courrèges had been designing miniskirts as early as 1961, the year he launched his couture house. The collection, which also included trouser suits and cut-out backs and midriffs, was designed for a new type of athletic, active young woman. Courrèges had presented ""above-the-knee"" skirts in his August 1964 haute couture presentation which was proclaimed"
"could not avoid further discussion of her Derby Day outfit: ""I feel Melbourne isn't ready for me yet. It seems years behind London,"" she said. Shrimpton's appearance at Derby Day 1965 has since been described as the pivotal moment of the introduction of the miniskirt to the international stage, although London designers such as Mary Quant had promoted it the year before. While Quant is often cited as the miniskirt's inventor, this claim has been challenged by others, including Quant herself. Regardless of who really invented the style Shrimpton was showcasing, the media attention surrounding her Derby Day appearance has"
"the King's Road [during the ""Swinging London"" scene] who invented the mini. I was making easy, youthful, simple clothes, in which you could move, in which you could run and jump and we would make them the length the customer wanted. I wore them very short and the customers would say, 'Shorter, shorter.'"" She gave the miniskirt its name, after her favourite make of car, the Mini, and said of its wearers, ""they are curiously feminine, but their femininity lies in their attitude rather than in their appearance ... She enjoys being noticed, but wittily. She is lively—positive—opinionated."" In addition"
"that she invented the miniskirt, stating that her customers should take credit, as she herself wore very short skirts, and they requested even shorter hemlines for themselves. Regardless of whether or not Quant invented the miniskirt, it is widely agreed that she was one of its highest-profile champions. Quant loved cars and named the garment after them, saying that car and skirt were both ""optimistic, exuberant, young, flirty,"" and complemented each other. Quant had started experimenting with shorter skirts in the late 1950s, when she started making her own designs up to stock her boutique on the King's Road. Among"
"the miniskirt. In contrast to the lukewarm response to the midi, shoppers enthusiastically embraced the idea of short shorts, which were made available at all price levels from haute couture to inexpensive ready-to-wear. Lambert credits Mariuccia Mandelli of the Italian fashion label Krizia with designing the first ""hot pants"" in 1970. Hotpants are also increasingly credited to Mary Quant, who reportedly offered them in the late 1960s. Many designers from across the Western world produced their own versions of hotpants at all price levels, including Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, Halston, and Betsey Johnson. Mass-produced versions were also sold through the"
"1960s in Western fashion The 1960s featured a number of diverse trends. It was a decade that broke many fashion traditions, mirroring social movements during the time. Around the middle of the decade, fashions arising from small pockets of young people in a few urban centres received large amounts of media publicity, and began to heavily influence both the ""haute couture"" of elite designers and the mass-market manufacturers. Examples include the mini skirt, culottes, go-go boots, and more experimental fashions, less often seen on the street, such as box-shaped PVC dresses and other PVC clothes. Mary Quant popularised the mini"
"youth culture and defiance. Mary Quant, the London-based designer responsible for the skirt, sought to reflect an era that was “arrogant, aggressive, and sexy.” Accordingly, the mini skirt was a popular choice for independent and progressive women in the 1960s. During the violent protests and events of May 1968 in France, the mini skirt became a symbol of female revolution and defiance. Andre Courrèges popularized the hemline in France. While the nostalgia of the 1970s saw a return to more conventional hemlines, the mini skirt persists as a symbol of women’s rights and sexual liberation to this day. The slogan"
"given such impersonal names as 'dolly birds', girls had been transformed into throwaway plastic objects"". Certainly this lengthening of hemlines coincided with the growth of the feminist movement. However, in the 1960s the mini had been regarded as a symbol of liberation, and it was worn by some, such as Germaine Greer and, in the following decade, Gloria Steinem. Greer herself wrote in 1969 that: Although they disappeared from mainstream fashion by the mid-70s, miniskirts never entirely went away. This was evidenced by Deborah Harry of the group Blondie, who often wore miniskirts during the ""new wave"" era of the"
"became the uniform of the era, with the added bonus of that whatever you bought, you could always get accessories to match. Miniskirts were causing a scene of their own, getting shorter by the week. Although not the first British designer to show the mini skirt, Biba was responsible for putting it on the high street and as miniskirts were in fashion, everything needed to be associated with them. Biba also brought out some of the first maxi coats. Biba's second store in London, the Kensington Church Street boutique, looked like an old apothecary on the outside with the wooden"
"Miniskirt A miniskirt (sometimes hyphenated as mini-skirt or separated as mini skirt) is a skirt with a hemline well above the knees, generally at mid-thigh level, normally no longer than below the buttocks; and a dress with such a hemline is called a minidress or a miniskirt dress. A ""micro-miniskirt"" or microskirt is a miniskirt with its hemline at the upper thigh. Short skirts have existed for a long time, though they were generally not called ""mini"" or became a fashion trend until the 1960s. Instances of clothing resembling miniskirts have been identified by archaeologists and historians as far back"
"series ""The Avengers"", although the manufacturers blocked his request for patterned tights to enable Emma Peel to fight in skirts if necessary. An alternative origin story for the miniskirt came from Barbara Hulanicki of the London boutique Biba, who recalled that in 1966 she received a delivery of stretchy jersey skirts that had shrunk drastically in transit. Much to her surprise, the ten-inch long garments rapidly sold out. In 1967 Rudi Gernreich was among the first American designers to offer miniskirts, in the face of strongly worded censure and criticism from American couturiers James Galanos and Norman Norell. Criticism of"
"the ""best show seen so far"" for that season by ""The New York Times"". The Courrèges look, featuring a knit bodystocking with a gabardine miniskirt slung around the hips, was widely copied and plagiarised, much to the designer's chagrin, and it would be 1967 before he again held a press showing for his work. Steele has described Courrèges's work as a ""brilliant couture version of youth fashion"" whose sophistication far outshone Quant's work, although she champions the Quant claim. Others, such as Jess Cartner-Morley of ""The Guardian"" explicitly credit him, rather than Quant, as the miniskirt's creator. The idea that"
"were modeled on those worn by female cheerleaders at sporting and other events. In 1985, the British designer Vivienne Westwood offered her first ""mini-crini,"" an abbreviated version of the Victorian crinoline. Its mini-length, bouffant silhouette inspired the puffball skirts widely presented by more established designers such as Christian Lacroix. In 1989, Westwood's mini-crini was described as having combined two conflicting ideals – the crinoline, representing a ""mythology of restriction and encumbrance in woman's dress"", and the ""equally dubious mythology of liberation"" associated with the miniskirt. From the 1980s, many women began to incorporate the miniskirt into their business attire, a"
"broadcast at the time – the German-made American 1954 series ""Flash Gordon"" showed Dale Arden (played by Irene Champlin) in an even shorter skirt. The manager of an unnamed shop in London's Oxford Street began experimenting in 1960 with skirt hemlines an inch above the knees of window mannequins, and noted how positively his customers responded. Hemlines were just above the knee in 1961, and gradually climbed upward over the next few years. By 1966, some designs had the hem at the upper thigh. Stockings with suspenders (American English: ""garters"") were not considered practical with miniskirts and were replaced with"
"was a fashionable icon of the early 1960s who led formal dressing trend. By wearing a Chanel suit, a structural Givenchy shift dress or a soft color Cassini coat with huge buttons, it created her elegant look and led a delicate trend. Furthermore, political revolution also made much impact on the fashion trend. For example, during the 1960s the economy had become wealthier, divorce rate was increasing and government approved the birth control pill. This revolution inspired younger generation to rebellion. In 1964, the leg-baring miniskirt has become a major fashion trend of the 1960s. Given that fashion designers began"
"skirt, and Jackie Kennedy introduced the pillbox hat; both became extremely popular. False eyelashes were worn by women throughout the 1960s. Hairstyles were a variety of lengths and styles. Psychedelic prints, neon colors, and mismatched patterns were in style. In the late 1960s, The hippie movement also exerted a strong influence on women's clothing styles, including bell-bottom jeans, tie-dye and batik fabrics, as well as paisley prints. In the early-to-mid 1960s, London ""Modernists"" known as Mods influenced male fashion in Britain. Designers were producing clothing more suitable for young adults, which led to an increase in interest and sales. American"
"and the ""embodiment of the 1960s"". Like Pattie Boyd, the wife of Beatles guitarist George Harrison, Shrimpton gained international fame for her embodiment of the ""British female 'look' – mini-skirt, long, straight hair and wide-eyed loveliness"", characteristics that defined Western fashion following the arrival of the Beatles and other British Invasion acts in 1964.<ref name=""Hibbert/HistoryOfRock""> Available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).</ref> Other popular models of the era included Veruschka, Peggy Moffitt and Penelope Tree. The model Twiggy has been called ""the face of 1966"" and ""the Queen of Mod"", a label she shared with, among others, Cathy McGowan, the host"
"the gender divide. Miniskirt A miniskirt (sometimes hyphenated as mini-skirt or separated as mini skirt) is a skirt with a hemline well above the knees, generally at mid-thigh level, normally no longer than below the buttocks; and a dress with such a hemline is called a minidress or a miniskirt dress. A ""micro-miniskirt"" or microskirt is a miniskirt with its hemline at the upper thigh. Short skirts have existed for a long time, though they were generally not called ""mini"" or became a fashion trend until the 1960s. Instances of clothing resembling miniskirts have been identified by archaeologists and historians"