LONDON — Mary Quant may have freed women’s fashion in the ‘50s and ‘60s with her short hemlines and bold patterns, but she was also a collector of similarly fun pieces throughout her life.
The London-based auction house Kerry Taylor Auctions is putting 35 lots of clothes and accessories from the late designer’s personal wardrobe under the hammer on March 25 as part of a wider auction called “Vintage Fashion, Antique Costume & Textiles.”
The auction includes Quant’s own designs from the ‘50s to the ‘80s, as well as pieces from Chanel by Karl Lagerfeld, Yves Saint Laurent, Issey Miyake, Vivienne Westwood, Comme des Garçons and Azzedine Alaïa.
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The auction house’s founder Kerry Taylor visited Quant’s country house in the U.K., where she had spent her final years before her death in 2023. She picked out pieces that weren’t attacked by moths.
“You could see that the clothes were constant in her life. She had two tiny, narrow dressing rooms that were absolutely rammed with things,” said Taylor in an interview.
She found many of Quant’s designs: a brown wool dress with a squiggle print from 1968; a grey herringbone sack dress from the late ‘50s; a black wool and patent leather minidress from 1966, and a set of merchandise and accessories from the ‘70s that includes tights, a swimsuit and a clutch bag.
Quant, whose name was synonymous with London’s Swinging ’60s and its fashion, offered young women a new, more liberated way of dressing, free from the girdles and restrictive undergarments that their mothers and grandmothers had worn.
“She was a cool girl right into her old age, instead of just wearing anything, she’d wear her Jean Paul Gaultier jumpers,” said Taylor.
Evident by Quant’s wardrobe, she was also a fan of French designers.
The auction lot features a black velvet jacket from Alaïa; a straw hat and a cloche hat with a white bow from Lagerfeld’s Chanel, and a white artist’s shirt from Vivienne Westwood’s spring 1992 “Salon” collection.
Taylor had a democratic approach to the auction’s estimates, which start at 200 pounds and go up to 800 pounds.
“Obviously not everything is always in the best condition, but as an auctioneer, it’s much more fun to give reasonable estimates and to make everything accessible. You’ve got to throw out the bait and then hopefully, reel everyone in — I much prefer that than going in with big, punchy estimates and then everyone saying, ‘that’s a bit high.’ I’d much rather let the market decide,” she said.