Mary Quant Quotes

I'd call my work 'instinctual design.' I like to find the spirit of a piece that defies time, age, and occasion. My clothes give the wearer the chance to develop their own voice within a wardrobe, and I think of them as curators of their personal style.

In grade school, my mother, who was a professional tailor, would make all my clothes. I became obsessed with designing them myself.

Finally, everything that has been part of my life, whether I wanted it to or not, has expressed itself in my dresses.

Now I design what I want to wear, and it works that way.

I feel like it's important, especially at young age, to find exactly what it is that makes your style so important as opposed to just trying to fit into the iconic styles of performers out there.

In a lot of the art world, you have to present yourself as you know what you're doing at a young age. Music gave me another outlet. The 'no wave' bands were such an inspiration; it felt so free - once you start doing it, it's hard to stop. But I can't get away from art. It comes back around. I wouldn't be true to myself if I didn't pursue it.

Art is the way people see things, and I think it's great when individuals can find in fashion something they truly believe is artistic.

Fashion is not separate from art. It is inextricably woven into how we open ourselves to the world and articulates the exchanges of power both real and imagined.

I like dressing how I like to dress, and I look like a little art statement.

I don't want to be held down by genres so much.

I design some of my own clothes now.

I think it is one of the capacities of human beings, to create style.

I can't design anything unless I'm excited by it, meaning I have an urge to wear it.

Writing is not for me. I completely lose my sense of humor when I write. I become extremely pathetic, very sensational. Images give me possibilities that I don't have with words.

This is all me. That's why all my products come in this dragon egg literally 'cause I'm like, I laid an egg for you, girl. Every little last detail is so Nikita and extra and wild. I'm creating things I've always wanted to see in the beauty industry.

It gives me a lot of joy when I wear my design at a show and someone asks me who designed my costume.

Through fashion, it's possible to express deep values of one's creative talent and also the values that are expected of society.

When it comes to creativity, or my artistry, when it comes to how I wear my hair and what I'm dressing like, some things I'm going to fight for; and it's really about picking the battles, but usually I'm not backing down.

If I'm going to be the black designer, I'm going to tell it my way.

Creative instinct is personal.

I think I'm just doing me, my music, my shows, and my stories.

What counts most is finding new ways to get the world down in paint on my own terms.

When I approach a collection, I never think too much about myself, because doing fashion and being a designer, you need to dream. Of course, there's always a part of myself. I'm always wearing what I'm doing. I'm not a party girl, but when I have the opportunity to go out and dance and be crazy for a night, that's the fall/winter collection.

Express yourself through your art - whether it’s your drawings in a sketchpad, tattoos on your skin, the shade of your lipstick, or the clothes that you wear.

Draw a line; draw a line that pleases you. And remember that it is not the artist's role to copy the outlines of things but to create a world of his own lines on paper." (pp.28-29)