On April 13, British fashion and beauty pioneer Dame Mary Quant passed away. The designer, who was 93 at the time of her passing, was often referred to as the mother of the miniskirt—the woman who paved the way for endless fashion moments that arguably changed the way we dress forever. As one of the first designers to take makeup into consideration alongside each new collection, Quant was famous for her contributions to beauty, from her mod-inspired bob haircut to the creation of the ever-evolving "London look." To honor the life of the industry icon, BeautyMatter reflects on the highlights of Quant's prestigious career that left a permanent mark on the beauty industry.

The Birth of Mod Fashion and Makeup

Quant's career in fashion began at the Goldsmiths University of London, where she studied for a degree in art education, specializing in illustration. The designer's rebellious reputation began here, where she set her sights on a fashion career, despite her parents wishing for her to take a traditional career path such as teaching. At Goldsmiths, Quant met Alexander Plunket Greene, an eccentric character who often attended lectures in his mother's silk pajamas, and the pair became inseparable. Shortly down the line, the lovers met businessman and lawyer Archie McNair, and the three embarked on a business adventure together, purchasing a building at 138a Kings Road, which went on to become the hub of Mary Quant fashion—a boutique named Bazaar.

Bazaar was one of the first boutiques to make Kings Road what it is most known for today: the heart and hub of British fashion. Many remember the boutique as rebellious and revolutionary, changing the style of fashion as well as how accessible it was. This was because prewar, parents dictated what their children wore, with youths replicating what older people clothed themselves in as they entered adulthood.

Throughout the ’50s and the ’60s when Bazaar was open, teenage rebellion was rife, as adolescents rejected the idea of following their parents' fashion and began to express themselves. Quant clothed these individuals, providing designs that had not been seen before, from wet-look PVC clothing to miniskirts with the highest hemlines to date, in rarely-seen-before bright colors, with bold hue tights to match. Quant’s fashions became the forefront of a social revolution known as the Swinging Sixties. During this time designs like the miniskirt began to be seen as less provocative and instead a symbol for growing female independence, as traditional gender roles began to be bent and the sexual revolution ignited thanks to the introduction of the birth-control pill in 1960. Young girls found their own style as opposed to replicating that of their mothers.

As Quant said herself in her book Quant by Quant, “The Chelsea girl … who established that this latter half of the twentieth century belongs to Youth … they think for themselves. They are committed and involved. Prejudices no longer exist. They represent the whole new spirit that is present day Britain, a classless spirit that has grown out of the Second World War.”

Bazaar was kitted out to cater to this rebellious and free teenager vibe, with an informal setup, modern decoration choices, extended opening hours, and loud pop music. The never-before-experienced shopping style quickly found  its target audience, and saw visitor numbers rapidly increase as a result. The impact Bazaar had on the way we consume and shop today is evident, as consumers report their shopping environment to have a large impact on their purchasing decisions.

Despite the Chelsea girl being considered as the main customer at Bazaar, Quant was also praised for her inclusive accessibility to fashion through her boutique. The designer began incorporating mass-production techniques into her business plan, meaning numerous items of the same design were available at an affordable cost, making it easier for consumers to gain ownership of her products. Quant also provided for the American teenager, creating the Ginger Group diffusion line for JCPenney department stores. The fashion accessibility pioneer went one step further, creating pattern designs in collaboration with Butterick Paper Patterns Company, and as a result, those who could not afford to purchase an original piece had the ability to create their own version at home at a much cheaper price.

Standing alongside her wide-ranging fashions on offer, Quant could be found at Bazaar rocking smoky kohl eye makeup and vibrant white eyeliner, her pale face decorated with freckles, accompanied by her signature bob haircut, created by her accredited hairdresser Vidal Sassoon in 1963. Upon the death of Sassoon in 2012, Quant penned a tribute to her late friend, explaining that his work heavily inspired her beauty choices and, ultimately, her beauty line. "He liberated women from the punishment of hours spent under the bonnet of a hairdryer, with fat rollers digging into their scalps ... Your hair did not forget the shape he created, it simply returned to base ... For me, he produced the perfect cap on my leggy miniskirted designs and the frame for my color cosmetics."

The Launch of Mary Quant Cosmetics

Despite starting in fashion, it was these beauty looks that led to making the designer her largest profit. Eleven years after the opening of Bazaar, Quant launched Mary Quant Cosmetics in 1966, the same year she received her OBE. The business soon gained traction, praised for its playful packaging, with crayon-esque product offerings that resembled items belonging to a child.

In 1968, Quant explained that she had decided to venture into cosmetics due to the fact that "now that the clothes were different, the face was wrong." The designer felt that fashion had changed rapidly, and as a result, beauty had been left behind. "Nobody had considered a colour other than red, pink or vaguely orange for lipstick or that there was colour other than blue and green and possibly purple for eye-shadow, so there was no flexibility and no fun with makeup," the designer stated in 2004. The designer signed a contract with Stanley Picker, the American owner and chairman of Gala Cosmetics, and the rest is history.

Quant's influence behind her cosmetics line came from her artistic experiments with makeup, using tools many clean beauty lovers would surely squirm at today, including paint brushes, watercolor paints, and crayons. The innovator wanted her products to work well together; she wished for them to be efficacious and time-saving—using less items that took less time to apply, yet resulted in a beautiful outcome, unlike anything else on the market at the time. She even published two books on the subject matter, Quant on Make-up in 1986, followed by Classic Make-up and Beauty Book in 1999 for those needing additional guidance.

Products for the Modern Woman

Quant created interchangeable products that all complemented one another, introducing shades such as mustard yellow, shimmery greens, and night-sky black, noted by the designer to have not previously existed in cosmetics. "I had no doubts at all about my concept of the colors and products, as to me the need of the new was so glaringly obvious, but when the packaging and testing also went so smoothly and looked so terrific, it was the one time in my life I had total, total confidence in a venture's success," Quant said in 2004.

Product names were given a comical stance, including a foundation named Starkers (British slang for naked), created to give a natural look that the "new type of woman" desired, as opposed to the cakey foundation that was on offer prior. The foundation came in three shades—fair, medium, and dark—which was seen as pushing the envelope back in the ’60s. This natural look, accompanied by Quant's popular kohl liner and thick eyelashes, became dubbed "the London look," a term that British brand Rimmel London still champions today.

Aside from innovation in color offerings, Quant was also heavily praised for her packaging choices, which are recognized for their signature daisy decoration. Before Mary Quant Cosmetics, beauty products were packaged in plastic containers designed to look like more expensive items, which Quant said often came with a foul smell. Reflecting her desire for change, Quant's cosmetics were packaged differently, with lipsticks in metal tubes, a growing phenomenon at the time, designed to be easy to store in a pocket—based upon product packaging today, it seems the industry never looked back. All products had a sleek and modern approach to their packaging, with lipsticks in a shiny silver component, accompanied by a singular daisy design in the middle, looking more sophisticated as opposed to bulky.

A Pop-Up Pioneer

Quant’s cosmetics not only began a revolution for how beauty packaging and products looked, but also for how they were marketed. For those who think beauty pop-ups are a recent phenomenon, the sales representatives of Mary Quant Cosmetics in the late ’60s would strongly disagree. Each weekend, a promotional tour took place in several UK cities, where the brand popped up in cosmetics stores, offering makeovers finished off with a small daisy dotted at the top of the cheekbone near the eye.

To introduce consumers to the new way of makeup, a comic strip was developed and handed out to those visiting pop-ups. Named Mary's Great Idea, the comic strip told the story of how the brand came to market, with instructions on how to apply hero products. The comic was printed onto fine paper, made easily foldable to fit into a pocket, furthering the intentions of product packaging designs.

The pop-up experiences were not only mobile. The Quant Beauty Bus, a bright-red classic London bus, toured Europe, Canada, America, and Venezuela. The bus was stripped of its original internal furniture and redecorated with makeup tables, mirrors, and swivel stools for customer makeovers and makeup training.

After a revolutionary ride with Mary Quant Cosmetics, Quant stepped down from the company in the early 2000s after a buyout from her Japanese licensees. Today, the current license for the brand is held by Mary Quant Cosmetics Japan LTD, the country in which its products (including a skincare line for sensitive skin) continue to be manufactured, with over 200 Mary Quant Color stores in Japan, while only two remain in London.

Mary Quant's life and career has impacted the industry on multiple levels. The beauty industry many know and love today would not be the way it is without Quant's influence—from color cosmetics to insightful marketing, and much more.  As the world mourns the fashion and beauty icon, we leave you with a quote from the legend herself: "I haven't had just one golden period; it's all been absolutely terrific."