British Fashion Designer, Mary Quant Dies Aged 93

British Fashion designer, Mary Quant, the style queen of Britain’s Swinging ’60s who popularized the miniskirt, lost her life on Thursday at the age of 93, her family made this known.

Whether Quant actually invented the then-scandalously short skirts has long been disputed, with French designer Andre Courreges insisting he was the first to raise hemlines high on the thigh.

But there is no doubt that without Quant the mini would not have become an icon of 1960s youth rebellion.

The diminutive designer — who always wore her hair in a bob — was also credited with creating hot pants, the skinny-rib sweater, and waterproof mascara.

Britain’s Victoria and Albert design museum paid tribute to her “trailblazing vision“.

“It’s impossible to overstate Quant’s contribution to fashion,” it said on Twitter. “She represented the joyful freedom of 1960s fashion, and provided a new role model for young women.”

Born on Feb. 11, 1930, in London, Quant studied at Goldsmith’s College of Art in the city where she met her future husband and business partner, Alexander Plunket Greene. He died in 1990.

Together they opened their first boutique, Bazaar, in 1955 in Chelsea, which would become the beating heart of Swinging London.