British fashion designer Mary Quant, who popularized the miniskirt and is widely credited with creating the iconic 1960s fashion item, died Thursday, her family announced. She was 93.
Quant’s family said the fashion icon died “peacefully at home” in Surrey, southern England, on Thursday. Additionally, they called her “one of the most internationally [recognized] fashion designers of the 20th Century and an outstanding innovator.”
Tributes from around the world poured in to remember Quant. English Model Twiggy Lawson, who became a style icon during the era, paid her respects to Quart on Instagram.
“Mary Quant was such an influence on young girls in the late 50s early 60s,” Lawson wrote. “She revolutionised fashion and was a brilliant female entrepreneur. The 1960s would have never been the same without her. Condolences to her family, RIP dear Dame Mary.”
Quant is known for making the miniskirt popular among young women and launched one of the first global super brands which shaped a new era in fashion. The miniskirt, which was named after the Mini Cooper, was a defining staple of the Swinging ’60.
Quant quickly shot to the top of the fashion world which was around the same time The Beatles and Rolling Stones dominated the music world, and she was forever linked to the sexual revolution of the 1960s.
Born on Feb. 11, 1930, Quant was the daughter of schoolteachers, and she went on to study art education at Goldsmith’s College in London. She then grew interested in fashion and worked as an apprentice to a hat-maker before trying her own designs.