An incredibly rare Mary Quant Ginger Group label dress made in 1967.

Unbleached calico mini smock dress trimmed with broderie anglaise and buttoned down the back.

It measures approximately 33"/34" in length and is approximately a modern size 8.

Mary Quant's Ginger Group label was her "off the peg ready to wear range".

This smock dress was one piece of an ensemble designed by Mary Quant in 1967.  The ensemble originally comprised additionally of a Mop-cap and Victorian Edwardian style panties (shorts).

There is one of these dresses in the V&A museum in London. See the following page for details:

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O84560/clothing-ensemble-quant-mary/

It is said that Mary Quant was a regular visitor to the V&A's Fashion Collection. She was particularly excited by children's clothes and Edwardian underwear. This calico dress mixes nostalgia with modernity. It is an example of the brief late 1960s fashion for outfits which resembled baby clothes. This took the idea of looking young to extremes.

The designer wrote at the time: 'There was a time when every girl under twenty yearned to look like an experienced, sophisticated thirty...All this is in reverse with a vengeance now. Suddenly every girl with a hope of getting away with it is aiming not only to look under voting age but under the age of consent.' 

"Quant on Quant, 1966"

The dress features in the V&A exhibition catalogue "Mary Quant's London" worn with white knee length lace up boots.

Condition: There are a few small faint grey marks in places which are pictured, but they are not major. I hand washed this dress before photographing it and the marks have faded somewhat which makes me believe that they could be removed completely with a professional clean. There is also a very small cream colored patch on the inner cuff on one sleeve which looks like it could be paint. See picture. I believe this too could be removed with an expert clean. Otherwise, this dress is in great condition.

A wonderfully unusual and rare addition to any Mary Quant or vintage clothes collection.

Dispatched via Royal Mail.