MARY QUANT

I divide my time between all the mud and open space in Surrey and the social life and work in London, particularly Chelsea, which still has the same village feel that it had in the swinging Sixties.

People only see permissiveness in the sense of having more.

I always designed clothes from a very young age because I didn't like the way they were. They were paralyzing; they were stilted.

In the old parts of Nice, the family tables are out in the cobbled streets so that you can't drive past. They insist you join them at midnight on a hot July evening. So that's just what you do, abandoning the car.

I love restaurants, and I love cooking.

London style is individual.

I used to start re-arranging my school uniform, hitching up my skirt to be more exciting-looking.

Most of my memories of the Sixties are ones of optimism, high spirits and confidence.

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

I don't have birthdays.

My favourite Nice restaurant is in the market. It's open mainly for the market people, and shuts in August.

People call things 'vulgar' when they are new to them. When they have become old, they become 'good taste.'

The miniskirt caused an extraordinarily powerful reaction. There were the people who hated it.

I absolutely adore cows. They're the most fascinating, gentle and beautiful animals. Their eyes are so amazing. I have ten that live on the land around my house. I love to talk to them. There are few things better than falling asleep in a field and being woken up by an inquisitive cow.

When I opened my first shop, city gents were still carrying tightly furled umbrellas and wearing bowler hats. It was into this world that I launched my new ideas about fashion.

Having money is rather like being a blond. It is more fun but not vital.

The Lord's Prayer is the most perfect piece of poetry. I always feel at peace and moved when I recite it.

Only ugliness is obscene.

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.

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

I have an awful lot of energy.

In America, they never make anything without first having a market survey to ask the public what they want. People only ask for things they already know about, so you don't get anything new that way. That's why American fashion is stuck.

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

I remember one day, when things were going frightfully well, I went to buy myself a really smashing car. I asked them to show me a Porsche with an automatic gearbox, and the salesman called over all the other salesmen, and they stood around absolutely roaring with laughter.

Of course I remember everything I've ever worn.