Mary Quant

“Jean Shrimpton was the most beautiful of all the models I have known. To walk down the King's Road, Chelsea, with Shrimpton was like walking through the rye. Strong men just keeled over right and left as she strode up the street.”

“I liked masculine fabrics: Prince of Wales checks, city pinstripes, and flannels - worn with black tights, flattish shoes.”

“Risk it; go for it. Life always gives you another chance, another go at it. It's very important to take enormous risks.”

“As well as being a creative genius, Vidal Sassoon was a formative figure of the Sixties. Along with the Pill and the mini-skirt, his influence was truly liberating.”

“Let me give you an idea of Fifties Britain. The war had ended ten years before, and most people had returned to their gardens and allotments hoping life would revert to how it was before the hostilities.”

“I long for my garden to be complete. Working in it is one of my joys, but it will never be finished because it's forever changing with the seasons.”

“I saw no reason why childhood shouldn't last forever. So I created clothes that worked and moved and allowed people to run, to jump, to leap, to retain their precious freedom.”

“One day, a new fabric appeared on the scene. PVC was shiny, waterproof, and unlike anything I'd ever seen before.”

“I designed the miniskirt that caused so much havoc in the Sixties - the miniskirt that was such fun but has travelled well to today.”

“I liked my skirts short because I wanted to run and catch the bus to get to work.”

“I still like the King's Road. It is very alive; it is a hustle of things from different countries and so on. It is lovely.”

“In the first half of the 20th century, fashion was simply not a very English thing to do.”

“A woman is as young as her knees.”

“People only see permissiveness in the sense of having more.”

“As a child, I used to spend nearly all my summer holidays with my aunt in Wales, and we used to catch mackerel in a boat and then cook them on board.”

“Only ugliness is obscene.”

“I've always loved painting and drawing. I wish I'd developed it more and exhibited.”

“One thing I longed to do was to design a complete look, from head to toe, so I started a make-up line in 1966.”

“Vidal Sassoon changed hair forever.”

“I think to myself, 'You lucky woman - how did you have all this fun?'”