Mary Quant’s first boutique, Bazaar, opened in London's King's Road in 1955, launching a successful fashion career. Her youthful easy-to-wear clothing became so popular that in 1963, she launched a lower-priced ready-to-wear range called 'Ginger Group'. She also entered into licensing agreements with manufacturers to produce hosiery, underwear, cosmetics and accessories bearing her name. Almost anyone, whatever their income, could spare the money to buy a pair of 'Mary Quant' stockings or a lipstick. This enabled girls who could not otherwise afford her clothing to feel in touch with fashion, and made Mary Quant a household name.

This printed cotton dress comes from the wardrobe of Pamela Howard Mace (1932-2008), who had a long career in fashion, after starting work in London for the magazine Home Notes, at the age of sixteen. She moved to South Africa for a while, but returned to London in 1962, where she worked for Mary Quant as her PA, becoming design director in 1968 until the late 1970s.

The dress probably dates from Pamela Howard Mace’s first years working for Mary Quant, or even earlier, as after 1961 Quant’s designs tend to be labelled with her own name rather than the name of her shop. The design of the dress typically borrows elements outside conventional womenswear, recalling the shape of a man’s shirt with a crisp, rounded collar. The printed cotton fabric may be a Liberty Tana lawn, with an exuberant print anticipating the popularity of Victorian designs reworked in new colourways in the later 1960s.