Kumu Documentary: Quant
Location: Kumu auditorium
Dir Sadie Frost
UK 2021, 86 min
In English
Introduction by fashion designer and lecturer Piret Puppart
The first official feature documentary celebrating the incredible life of the fashion icon, style guru and one of the most influential designers of the 20th Century, Dame Mary Quant.
One of Britain’s most renowned cultural figures, Quant was at the vanguard of the stylistic revolution of the 60s and 70s, leading the charge away from convention and conservatism through the championing of ground-breaking designs, including the miniskirt and hot pants, plus an ingeniously creative partnership with the hair stylist Vidal Sassoon.
Quant’s mould-breaking designs and irreverent style were widely credited as being critical to the development of the “swinging sixties”.
Quant tells the full story of this design and retail pioneer, from her first store on the legendary King’s Road in London, where the days’ sales paid for cloth that could be converted overnight into new stock for the following day, to the development of a global empire incorporating fashion, housewares and cosmetics.
Using original interviews with Quant’s contemporaries (Kate Moss, Vivienne Westwood and Edward Enninful), the Quant family and current fashion and style leaders, plus scenes dramatising some of Quant’s most famous statements, and archival footage, Quant features striking creativity within its storytelling and imagery.
The documentary carries on from the V&A exhibition on Mary Quant, which by the time it closed in Feb 2020 had had almost 500,000 visitors, more than any other exhibition within that section of the museum.
