Last month I got to see the Mary Quant exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It was a childhood dream to wear Mary Quant fashion. Her work was not for sale in the small interior West American town where I grew up. But, my mother could sew anything and she fashioned some Quant designs for me. It breaks my heart that we didn’t keep all of those great things my mom sewed. But, they are stored in my memory and I remember how I felt when I wore them. That suffices in a pretty big way. Thanks mom!
But Mary Quant’s fashions, along with Twiggy and the Beatles, were a big part of my burgeoning (teenage) identity. Well, I mean that’s obvious. The name of my blog is from the Beatles: “Get back!”
The photo above of legs and the next 3 of hair were the kind of thing that fired my imagination. I couldn’t buy her fashions in South Dakota in the 1960s, but I could wear the tights and haircuts she inspired! And I did!
The rest of my pictures of the V & A exhibition are in no particular order. It was a great and very fun show, and I loved seeing and snapping pix of it.
The next photo was completely my scene. I wore these styles, these colors, and this vibe.
I didn’t know about Mary Quant’s paper dolls, or sticker books, or I would have been seeking them out. We didn’t have the internet back then, but I bet I could have figured it out, long-hand, so to speak. I guarantee you that I would have placed an international order with my babysitting money and waited for months to receive my treasures. This is how I honed my long game, which I still use with great results.
The jersey dress changed fashion. I’m a big fan and I still wear it.
get back, lauretta! 
Thanks for sharing so many pictures. I can look at her dresses all day.
Mary was the revolutionary who should be considered the designer who brought the New Look to a New Generation. Her fashions for me mark the time when the 20th century youth broke through all holds from the past. Much has been said about Dior bringing a New Look to fashion. I love the technical wizardry and technical aspects of his designs but new? I do not consider them New. They harkened back to the era in which his mother was a belle of fashion. The restrictive, boned, rubberized corsetry needed to wear the tight bodiced, full skirted Dior fashions made them restrictive. How freely a woman could dance, run, embrace and simply move is something I wonder about. My own Mom tossed her girdle and bullet bras out in the mid-1960s. Once she was acclimated to the freedom of movement wearing a shift or tent dress permitted she was won over. I came of age when Mary’s influence was in its height. I’m so glad I never had to wear the elaborate corsetry my Mom did. She always looked very feminine but constrained when dressed in the 1950s.
Amen sister! I remember seeing my mother shoving her body into those 1950s undergarments and it looked like torture. Plus, when she was dressed, she felt like a rubber tube! Poor moms!