Daily Times

Fashion designer Dame Mary Quant has died aged 93, her family has announced. A statement from her family to the PA news agency said she “died peacefully at home in Surrey, UK this morning”.

Dame Mary was credited with popularising the mini-skirts that helped define the Swinging ’60s. Her family said she was “one of the most internationally recognised fashion designers of the 20th Century and an outstanding innovator”.

“She opened her first shop Bazaar in the Kings Road in 1955 and her far-sighted and creative talents quickly established a unique contribution to British fashion.” Model Twiggy Lawson led the tributes on social media, calling Dame Mary “such an influence on young girls in the late 50s early 60s”. “She revolutionised fashion and was a brilliant female entrepreneur,” she said.

“The 1960s would have never been the same without her.” Former Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman also praised Dame Mary as a “leader of fashion but also in female entrepreneurship”, calling her “a visionary who was much more than a great haircut.” The Victoria & Albert Museum said: “It’s impossible to overstate Quant’s contribution to fashion. She represented the joyful freedom of 1960s fashion, and provided a new role model for young women. “Fashion today owes so much to her trailblazing vision.” The fashion director of the International New York Times, Vanessa Friedman tweeted: “RIP Mary Quant, who freed the female leg. We owe you.” Dame Mary was one of the most influential figures in the fashion scene of the 1960s and is credited with making fashion accessible to the masses with her sleek, streamlined and vibrant designs.