New shops for new fashions
It took a new kind of shop to break the dominance of Paris and to fully ignite the potential of youth fashion. Boutiques were small, self-service shops set up in London by designers who wanted to offer affordable fashions to ordinary young people, offering a very different experience from the often rather formal ‘outfitters’ and old-style department stores. Being ‘on the ground’ allowed them to get to know their customer well and to supply their needs quickly. Designers Mary Quant and John Stephen were the pioneers of this new form of retail, having both opened their first stores back in the mid-1950s. They designed and stocked hugely influential fashions that initially nodded to the Mod aesthetic of bright, tailored minimalism.
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The reign of the boutique
Within just a few years the boutique scene had exploded. Young people flocked to ‘see and be seen’ at vibrant new stores, centred on London’s Kings Road and Carnaby Street. These now-iconic shops sold affordable separates suited to a busy, urban lifestyle, allowing their customers to combine items in creative ways. The slim-fitting, brightly coloured outfits produced by London designers became hugely influential throughout the UK, as well as in Europe and America – helping to create the seductive image of ‘Swinging London’. The mini-skirt, popularised by Mary Quant, quickly earned its place as the decade’s most iconic look, as young women enjoyed the chance to ‘dare to bare’. Later in the decade, influential designers included Barbara Hulanicki who, like Quant, focused on fun dresses with daringly short hem lengths, and Marion Foale and Sally Tuffin, notable for their quirky day wear and code-breaking trouser suits for women.