For a change - an arty-farty fashion designer: Mary Quant. She was a 1960s icon in Britain, her name synonymous with all that was hip, cool and new....inventor of the "mod look". Whether she actually invented the mini-skirt isn't clear, others have claimed that honour, but it was cetainly Mary Q who popularised the mini in the UK , along with white boots, skinny-rib sweaters, vinyl coats and dresses, heavy smoky eye makeup and pale, pale lips. Her signature haircut - a sharply defined bob became the in thing for the gal about town - in London and environs anyway. In the backwoods of northern England we had to make do with whatever the local hairdresser could come up with - often not nothing like Mary's precisely chopped mane.
It's no surprise to find that Mary Quant has Sun in Aquarius. Born on 11 February 1934 in Blackheath, South London. She has Sun, Saturn and Venus all in Aquarius - with Uranus, modern ruler of Aquarius in helpful sextile to Sun from Aries. Moon is somewhere in Capricorn (depending on time of birth). Capricorn adds a good helping of business sense to MQ's innate flair for fashion. Also reflecting business skills is Sun conjunct Saturn - Saturn being Capricorn's ruler, and co-ruler of Aquarius.
Mary Quant's business sense quickly became clear. She and her husband opened one of London's first "boutiques", on the Kings Road, Chelsea in 1955 and called it Bazaar. Business boomed almost at once. "It had begun to dawn on us that by luck... by chance... perhaps even by mistake... we were on to a huge thing," she said "We were in at the beginning of a tremendous renaissance in fashion."By 1961 she had a second Bazaar in Knightsbridge, then decided to go wholesale, to keep prices down. By 1963 Quant was into mass productuion and exporting to the USA, later she launched her Ginger Group internationally. She extended her interests into household furnishings, carpets, toys and cosmetics. Her cosmetics line was an immediate success, worldwide.
In 1966 Mary Quant was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) for her services to the fashion industry.
Mary Quant is almost a textbook example of what Uranus/Aquarius's avant garde inventive nature combined with Capricorn/Saturn business savvy can achieve.
It's no surprise to find that Mary Quant has Sun in Aquarius. Born on 11 February 1934 in Blackheath, South London. She has Sun, Saturn and Venus all in Aquarius - with Uranus, modern ruler of Aquarius in helpful sextile to Sun from Aries. Moon is somewhere in Capricorn (depending on time of birth). Capricorn adds a good helping of business sense to MQ's innate flair for fashion. Also reflecting business skills is Sun conjunct Saturn - Saturn being Capricorn's ruler, and co-ruler of Aquarius.
Mary Quant's business sense quickly became clear. She and her husband opened one of London's first "boutiques", on the Kings Road, Chelsea in 1955 and called it Bazaar. Business boomed almost at once. "It had begun to dawn on us that by luck... by chance... perhaps even by mistake... we were on to a huge thing," she said "We were in at the beginning of a tremendous renaissance in fashion."By 1961 she had a second Bazaar in Knightsbridge, then decided to go wholesale, to keep prices down. By 1963 Quant was into mass productuion and exporting to the USA, later she launched her Ginger Group internationally. She extended her interests into household furnishings, carpets, toys and cosmetics. Her cosmetics line was an immediate success, worldwide.
In 1966 Mary Quant was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) for her services to the fashion industry.
Mary Quant is almost a textbook example of what Uranus/Aquarius's avant garde inventive nature combined with Capricorn/Saturn business savvy can achieve.
What a fun trip down memory lane - and thanx for all the pix, Born in 1954, I was fortunate enough to experience all the excitement, sense of the new - and, yes, I had a pair of those white gogo boots. Naysayers to the contrary, the Swinging Sixties were a totally exhilirating time to be young and alive!
ReplyDeleteSabina ~~~ Hi there! Glad you enjoyed this - and the 60s. :-)
ReplyDeleteI think most of the styles still look rather good - although the vinyl stuff would be a bit hot and sticky!
Oh Flashback T!
ReplyDeleteIt was way fun in those days, like you the vinyl boots were HOT but who can forget the pale pale lipstick and the kohl-y eyes and the dead straight fringe.
WE soooo were the forerunners of today, n'est pas?
XO
WWW
WWW ~~~ I guess so! There hasn't been another such inventive decade since then - at least not one that touched so many ordinary people in so many ways.
ReplyDeleteI loved the pale lips and dark eyed look, didn't care for the haircut for myself though, but admired the skill of top hairdressrs who produced the look (Vidal Sasoon and his ilk).