V&A’s Mary Quant exhibition proves a hit

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Feb 11, 2020

Mini-skirts, 1960s retro dresses and colourful tights line the walls of the V&A Museum’s Mary Quant exhibition, which has attracted over 400,000 visitors since its opening in April.

Just in time to celebrate the fashion designer’s 90th birthday, the London museum has announced that the retrospective is its third most popular fashion show ever, after last year’s ‘Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams’ and ‘Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty’ in 2015.

‘Mary Quant’ has now surpassed ‘Wedding Dresses 1775-2014’ (which welcomed 316,852 visitors) and ‘Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion’, which ran from May 2017 to February 2018, drawing 272,564 visitors.

Additionally, ‘Mary Quant’ is the most successful show ever housed in the museum's dedicated fashion gallery.

The fashion retrospective is closing at the V&A in South Kensington on 16 February, but fans of the British designer will be able to see it at V&A Dundee from 4 April.

More than 120 garments, accessories, cosmetics, sketches and photographs will go on display at the museum's Scottish site, including many items provided by private individuals.

‘Mary Quant’ is the latest in a series of fashion exhibitions staged by the V&A as in sharpens its focus on fashion in the face of growing consumer interest.

These initiatives include a ‘Making It: Careers in Fashion and Costume’ event taking place on 22 February at Stratford Circus Arts Centre in East London. Dedicated to 16-24-year olds, the event will feature workshops, design displays, one-to-one advice sessions, and live demonstrations to inspire young talent to start a career in fashion.

The project kickstarts the museum’s journey in East London, with two V&A East sites expected to open in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in 2023. The new location will create a world-class museum in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution and a new collection and research centre.