Born during Mary Quant’s heyday, I grew up very much aware of this genuine fashion icon’s strong identity. From colourblock geometric minidresses to caps and boots and boyish femininity – and that amazing trademark bob – Mary Quant WAS, the 1960s.
So it was with much excitement, and the recent acquisition of a V&A membership, that I headed to the museum a few days after the launch of its landmark Mary Quant show.
You get to a stage in life when you have to question the sustainability of your clothes-buying choices. So hearing a radio interview with someone who’d stopped buying clothes for a year, I decided to give it a go myself.
I made a few exceptions – I was allowed to buy from charity shops and I was allowed to make my own. If absolutely desperate, I was permitted to purchase new underwear – I couldn’t be expected to buy that second-hand. But in the main, the idea was to go through the bags of ageing stuff I keep in a drawer under my bed, recycling items that hadn’t seen the light of day for a while.
Feeling the squeeze 