Dress

Mary Quant opened the boutique, Bazaar in 1955 in London’s Chelsea district, a center of the growing youthquake movement. The boutique attracted a new generation of consumers disinterested in the ladylike formality and conventions of 1950s fashion and the haute couture. Quant developed a ready-to-wear style for the boutique defined by short, over-the-knee hemlines and bold, graphic color combinations. The designs, inspired by Beatnik culture and the ease and silhouette of children’s play clothes, pioneered the 1960s mod – or modernist – aesthetic. This pieced mini dress in lightweight wool jersey is a trompe l’oeil version of a similar 1965 design composed of a pinafore-like halter dress with a functional buckle at the neckline worn over a shrunken rib knit sweater.