The 1960s was a decade of change. Also known as the 'Swinging 60s', this era had a great impact on design and culture then and today. In this essay, I will talk about
Mary Quant (Early 60s) in London and Yves Saint Laurent (mid to late 60s) in
France. I will compare them and their backgrounds to show how they became iconic in the history of fashion through events that took place in the 60s. Mary Qaunt belonged to the time in London, when the youth culture demanded the need to be distinguised as a seprate subculture. She took this oppurtunity and opened her own store caller Bazaar (1955) to imprint a type of clothing for her age group and became succesful immediately, commercially. Yves Saint Laurent, on the other hand, was already
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She gave quirky names to her desings like: "The bank of England" (a chalk-strip tunic); "Bobby Straps" (a bra); "Qaunt Afoot" (collection of boots) which showed her light-hearted and unstuffy attitutde. Her designs are described as
"unfussy garments based on simple, slightly flared shift shapes and tubular lines" and "kept accessories to the minimum" and "shortened skirts" (Medes and Haye,
20th Centuary Fashion, p.177) Lurent was described as "The young king Yves of Paris" by Woman's Wear
Daily (WWD, online). He was conquering the world of fashion. Young designers got influenced by his style. Diana Vreeland, a well known editor said: "Yves Saint
Laurent has a fifty-fifty deal with the street. Half of the time he is inspired by the street and half of the time the street gets its style from Yves Saint Laurent."
(Vreeland, 1983). Favouritism shifted from Blaenciaga to Laurent. He had a way of mixing high fashion with street that brought out the best of fashion for those who could not afford the high rates. This time-period was after the second world war. The women became more and more independant. They needed clothes that let them do heavy suty work that was meant for the men. This was another reason why Qaunt and Laurent were such
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