AN iconic photograph of fashion designer Mary Quant taken in 1966 has been recreated by V&A Dundee ahead of the opening of its first major fashion exhibition celebrating the influential designer.
Quant changed the fashion system, overturning the dominance of Paris couturiers, and transformed young women like her into the new leaders of style. The new images, shot on location inside and outside Scotland’s first design museum before it temporarily closed, feature new textiles created by five emerging designers inspired by the her work.
Lucy Carrie, Emer Dobson, Sandra Junele, Humaira Khan and Jane Neave, all third-year textile design students at the University of Dundee’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, were presented with an opportunity to work with V&A Dundee earlier this year as part of a project titled 21st Century Quant, examining the designer’s design legacy.
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The new designers were asked to create textiles inspired by Quant’s 1960s rebellion which also responds to the big issues facing today’s fashion world. Detailed research and experimentation led them to explore urgent themes such as climate change, consumerism and racism.
The textiles were then transformed into four dresses made to the exact specification of an original Mary Quant Butterick dress-making pattern. The knitted cape designed by Junele was inspired by Quant’s famous Alligator cape and references the importance of repurposing clothing waste as a way to tackle problems caused by fast fashion and over-consumption.
Other projects include that of Dobson, who created a repeat pattern using the outline of non-recyclable packaging to highlight the problem of sustainability and the issue of hidden waste.
The shoot was the first time V&A Dundee has been used as a fashion shoot location.
Mary Quant was curated by Jenny Lister and Stephanie Wood of the V&A and shown at V&A South Kensington earlier this year. The Mary Quant exhibition at V&A Dundee opens today and runs until January.
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