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V&A launches Quant exhibition with swinging 60s revival

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mary quant v&a

Tickets have gone on sale for an April 2019 exhibition celebrating fashion designer Mary Quant – and to celebrate the V&A has held a 60s revival in the streets of London.

On the 15th November, eighteen models formed a 60s revival in the capital city. 10 models who worked with Quant throughout the 60s and 70s were joined by 8 contemporary models dressed in original Quant clothing.

The models travelled through Chelsea and the King’s Road, the home of Quant’s first store and the heart of swinging London.

The revival also included a performance by 60s Go-Go dance group The Meyer Dancers.

#WeWantQuant

Models, dancers and Quant colleagues travelled in a #WeWantQuant branded double-decker bus, inspired by Mary Quant’s own promotional bus for her cosmetics line.

Heather Tilbury, Former Director of Mary Quant Limited with responsibility for PR and Marketing, said “The moment the V&A’s launch event was suggested to the 60’s and 70’s models with whom we are still in touch, their excitement and enthusiasm was contagious. Their exhilaration demonstrates their understanding of Mary’s enduring inventiveness as well as sharing fond memories of that wonderful, stimulating era when all the fashion shows and presentations were such enormous fun, and rather crazy!”

A “longoverdue exhibition”

Mary Quant V&A

The exhibition will explore the years between 1955 and 1975. Quant popularised the miniskirt,
colourful tights, and tailored trousers. The show will bring together over 120 garments as well as accessories, cosmetics, sketches and photographs – the majority of which have never been on display before.

Jenny Lister, co-curator of Mary Quant at the V&A, said: “Mary Quant transformed the fashion system, overturning the dominance of luxury couture from Paris. She dressed the liberated woman, freed from rules and regulations, and from dressing like their mothers. This longoverdue exhibition will show how Mary Quant’s brand connected with her customers, how she made designer fashion affordable for working women, and how her youthful, revolutionary clothes, inspired by London’s creative scene, made British streetstyle the global influence it remains today.”

Other exhibitions coming to the V&A next year include Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams, as well as exhibitions dedicated to food and cars.

The exhibition Mary Quant runs from 6 April 2019 – 16 February 2020.

Fashion exhibitions are in style

Fashion exhibitions are certainly in style. Last month, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, announced that Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination has become the museum’s most visited exhibition, attracting over 1.5 million visitors.

Earlier this month, the V&A unveiled plans to create the V&A East with two interconnected sites in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. V&A will create a brand-new museum at Stratford Waterfront, and a new collection and research centre at Here East.

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Michael Mander

Michael Mander

I am a journalist from Essex, England. I enjoy travelling, and love exploring attractions around the world. I graduated from Lancaster University in 2018. Twitter @michael_mander.

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