I’m a few months late with a Memorial tribute to Mary Quant, but still grateful for the way she affected fashion when I was a teen and young adult. 1964 was the year of the Beatles’ first appearance on American TV, and in August of the same year their wonderful film Hard Day’s Night was released. Youth was no longer an ordeal you passed through before becoming an adult. It was really a joyful time to be a teen or young woman.
I was glad to re-visit these patterns from 1964 (my second year in college) because they confirmed my memory of our skirt lengths. (Sixties’ skirts got much shorter closer to the Seventies, which is not necessarily how people remember the era.) Part of the shocked reaction to showing your knees in 1964 was that late fifties’ dresses — even for teens — had been mid-calf.
These patterns are from 1960 –shorter, but well below the knee.
The following images are also Butterick patterns, this time from 1964. Notice that some show mid-knee length, and some show a length that exposes the kneecap. And there is even a midi dress, just to show Quant’s variety.
The skirt above left is a typical 1960s’ “A-line”skirt, flaring slightly at the hem. It’s knee-length. It is a big change from the form-fitting “pencil” skirts of the 1950s:
Tight skirts of the Fifties were meant to reveal a woman’s curves, but Mary Quant dresses were for the young.
Announcing the Mary Quant patterns for Butterick. May, 1964. “Mary Quant designs for the young.” The “Chelsea Look” was not intended for the mature and wealthy patrons of couture houses.
Equally wonderful to me were her body-skimming styles, which were in sharp contrast to the tight skirts and fitted bodices of the fifties. They seem amazingly modest by 21st century standards. I loved them, because they focused attention on your face, not your bust. They were not overtly sexy. [Think of the line in the Mad Men TV series which suggested that women had to choose between two fashion icons: Marilyn Monroe or Jacqueline Kennedy.] I was curvy, but I wanted men to see me as a person, not a body.
This mid-knee Quant design draws attention to the face and hands. It is shown covering the kneecaps.
That Sassoon style haircut was a popular option, although very long, straight hair was also popular, not to mention the shoulder-length “flip.” And I wish to draw your attention to the shoes these women are wearing. Stiletto spiked high heels were “fifties.” You could buy “spike heels,” but they were not part of the “Youthquake” of the Sixties.
Mary Quant dresses were worn with flat or low heels.
More about sixties’ shoes later…..
P.S. After being handicapped by age and illness for several years, I can now walk, read, drive, and lift a book. It’s good to be back!
witness2fashion 
