MARY QUANT EXHIBIT

If 1960s fashion is your bag (baby), make sure to stop by London's V&A museum this year to check out their major exhibit celebrating the work of designer Mary Quant. Dame Mary pioneered and popularized the mini skirt, which came to symbolize the youthful, on-the-go attitudes in the early 60s.  Revolutionary in hindsight, Dame Mary has described her process, and I think this can apply to artists working any media, as a focussed labor of love on the projects: "It was a wonderfully exciting time and despite the frenetic, hard work we had enormous fun. We didn’t necessarily realise that what we were creating was pioneering, we were simply too busy relishing all the opportunities and embracing the results before rushing on to the next challenge! Friends have been extremely generous in loaning, and in many cases, donating garments and accessories to the V&A which they have lovingly cherished for many years, so it will be fascinating to see what else will emerge! I am enormously grateful to have been involved with so many talented people whose contribution to that ground-breaking, revolutionary and memorable era will also be recognised.” Hear that, social media-era artists? The trick is to create, create, create, and make the work the focus. And I'm so pleased to see Dame Mary getting this special exhibit. From the V&A press release: "Today, the V&A announces that it has been given unprecedented access to Dame Mary Quant’s Archive to curate the first international retrospective on the revolutionary fashion designer in nearly 50 years. Opening in April 2019, the exhibition will focus on the years between 1955 and 1975, when Quant revolutionised the high street with her subversive and playful designs for a younger generation, from hot pants, miniskirts and trousers for women to accessories, tights and make-up. The exhibition will bring together over 200 objects, the majority of which have never been on public display. It will reveal the real stories behind the myths to explore how Quant democratised fashion and empowered women through her determination, ingenuity and unique personal style, which she exported around the world. The exhibition will be drawn from the V&A’s extensive fashion holdings, which includes the largest collection of Mary Quant garments in the world, as well as the designer’s personal archive and important international loans. Jenny Lister, curator of Mary Quant at the V&A, said: “Mary Quant liberated fashion in the late 1950s and early 60s. Known for establishing high street fashion, inventing hot pants and popularising the miniskirt, she freed women from rules and regulations, and from dressing like their mothers. This long-overdue exhibition will show how Mary made high fashion affordable for working women, and how her youthful, revolutionary clothes, inspired by London, made British streetstyle the global influence it remains today.” The exhibition runs from 6 April 2019 – 8 March 2020. Don't miss it! More info at V&A and Mary Quant. Images below: Dame Mary in the 1960s (at work and with Vidal Sassoon). In other news, I have a new book out (over 700 pages!) about one of America's legendary cartoonists. Check it out! Enjoy!

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SUPER BOWL

Spy Vibe celebrates the true Super Bowl, a five-point classic cut designed by Vidal Sassoon. Created in the summer of 1964, Sassoon's short-bowl bob helped to usher in a style that would define the new generation. Joining a wave that included Mary Quant, Twiggy, Peggy Moffit, Cardin, and others, Sassoon's famous haircut solidified the youth-centered culture of the era and his influence rippled across Europe and the rest of the globe. Photo still below of Peggy Moffitt and others on the set of William Klein's Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? (1966).

When Sassoon died in 2012, designer Mary Quant wrote a piece for The Guardian. She said, "Vidal Sassoon completely changed hair. Before him, it was simply hairdressing: Vidal made it cut and style. He saw that, like architecture, hair could be cut into shapes and textures that not only flattered the character and texture of the hair, but projected the best qualities of the head and face, pointing out the cheekbones and focusing on the eyes, and making the maximum impact on the individuality of the face and personality. In the Japanese erotic tradition, he also focused on the back of the neck." Contact sheet of model Grace Coddington below from The Independent.

Quant: "He liberated women from the punishment of hours spent under the bonnet of a hairdryer, with fat rollers digging into their scalps. We found the freedom to swim in the sea, drive in an open-top car, walk in the rain and then just shake our head to look good again. Your hair did not forget the shape he created and it simply returned to base… Vidal Sassoon, the pill and the miniskirt changed everything. For me, he produced the perfect cap on my leggy miniskirted designs and the frame for my colour cosmetics."  Images below of Mary Quant and Vidal Sasson from The Guardian and CNN.

Just as trim fashion liberated women to celebrate the beauty of an active, sporty life-style, Sassoon's cut offered freedom and practicality for the busy professional. The look was fresh, fun, and empowering. But there was a darker side to this aesthetic. Although fans now like to look back to Klein's Polly Magoo film as an iconic poster for fashion elements like Sassoon's haircut, geometric mod clothes, Op Art influences, and Twiggy-like models, the film also criticized -in 1966- the emergence of the youth fashion movement. The script cautioned that the trend to fetishize ultra-skinny youth as the ideal of beauty would ultimately mutate our perspective on maturity, femininity, and sexuality. In an age now where advertisements are using younger and younger kids depicted with seemingly adult-like attitudes, I fear the film's message was accurate. Although I share that concern regarding youth, I am a great fan of what Sassoon, Quant, and others did for style. As a playful look for mature people, it remains inspired and influential. It's wonderful to see Mary Quant (age 79) and Peggy Moffitt (age 73) below still sporting the mid-1960s styles. Nice super bowl, Peggy! 

Read more about Sassoon here. Vidal Sassoon website here. Image of Sassoon below from Elle Magazine.

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