Australia's Mary Quant

I love this dress, and I hate both 1) polyester (oh, sorry, "Crimplene") and 2) purple, so you know this is true love.

This is from a site with the punning name "Beehive Yourself," and I think it might be Australian, which makes the pun make more sense, because try to say that in a fakey Aussie accent. No, go ahead, I'll wait. See? Click the image to see all the gory details (unless you are too busy STILL saying "beehive yourself" in that "no, THIS is a KNOIFE" accent).

Anyway, the designer, Prue Acton, was Australia's Mary Quant. You see, kids, before the Internet, each widely separated geographical area ... ah, never mind. Now I wish I had a search tool that would let me search [name of place]'s [name of famous person] to see how many funny combos I'd get. I'd also like to see dresses from Japan's, Bulgaria's, and Canada's Mary Quants! Any help?

Comments

[Danielle]

The Canadian Mary Quant was Marilyn Brooks, who brought swinging sixties boutiques to kids in Toronto.Unfortunately she is still working to this day, and she features little of her older work on her website.http://www.marilynbrooks.com/Here, the only picture of a dress of hers from the 1960s I could find. Can't even tell if I like it or not.http://www.marilynbrooks.com/images/2003/1960_dress.gifMaybe you can check your vintage girl avenues and see if any of her frocks are floating around...

[Erin]

Ooh, thanks!I can't tell if I like that dress or not, but I have to say that it being called "the unicorn dress" is a Bad Sign.

[Anonymous]

I can solve one or two mysteries for you - not that you would have fallen ill if you didn't know this info!1) Beehive Yourself! Nope, not Aussie - although I do have a lot of friends and clients there. I'm also a raving lunatic fanatic for the Australian Rugby Union team, The Wallabies (so at times I scream and cheer like I was an Aussie). I'm just a plain old Californian, saddled with a sagging actor gov. and a soaring cost of living.1a) Beehive Yourself! is sorta like an annex off my actual website, which is Vintage Grace http://www.vintagegrace.com And actually, Grace is easier to say in a fake Aussie accent then Beehive ;-)2) Crimplene, trust me, feels way nicer than everyday 60s Sears polyester. This fabric is smooth and silky without being thin and flimsy. 3) You made a wise decision by falling in love with this dress - despite the color factors that you don't care for. Even my vintage hating husband thought this dress was stunning. Trust me, that's a very big score. It's truly divine to see and feel!!4) You have great timing because I'll be posting a "workshop" on Prue Acton on Tuesday, Sept 13th over on the Vintage Fashion Guild's Public Forums. So if you are curious about Prue, pop by and read more about her. (I'll give you a preview: She was the first Australian designer to show in New York in the 1960s - all at the tender age of 19! Talk about girl power.)http://www.vintagefashionguild.org5) And lastly, I love your blog! I don't generally look at my web logs because they take too long to download, but tonight I did for the first time in 4 months or so?? I saw the hits from your site and decided to follow the breadcrumbs. I'll be adding a link to your site in my links directory on Vintage Grace!Hmmm, guess that was more than a couple of things, eh?Cheers ~Maureenhttp://www.vintagegrace.commaureen@vintagegrace.com

[Erin]

Maureen, thank you! I'll link to Vintage Grace asap!