'Banana Split', a black, fit-and-flare mini dress of bonded wool jersey, with a zipper from neck to navel.

'Banana Split', a black, fit-and-flare mini dress of bonded wool jersey, with a zipper from neck to navel. Designed by Mary Quant for Ginger Group, in England in 1967, the black dress features a reversible cream collar and two zips at the sleeves.

Given by Joan Cecil

The design of the ensemble demonstrates Quant’s fun and comfortable approach to fashion: the dress was either worn zipped to highlight the high neck, partially unzipped to showcase the cream lining of the collar. Alternatively, you could ‘pull the zip down to the model's belly-button and paint a daisy on it" as stated by Mary Quant herself.
Quant designed jersey dresses such as these in hundreds of colours and permutations, demonstrating the perfect look for the new confident young woman, enjoying spending power and increased choice when shopping on the high street. Quant discovered the bonded jersey fabric in 1966 in America, and her assistant Shirley Shurville found a British supplier, Ames Mill, through a rep for the textiles agency Standard International, which could match the American sample. The bright colours and sculptural qualities of this fabric were perfectly suited to the development and flourishing of the simple mini dress. As Quant’s designs simplified and moved ever closer to the very short shift dresses of 1966, this and other types of bonded jersey fabrics were used in very high volumes for Ginger Group, JC Penney, and the Puritan Fashions range of 1965. Most examples in the V&A collection are 100 per cent wool, coin-bonded to a synthetic backing fabric – a process patented by Dupont in 1966.
As Quant’s favourite design, the ‘Banana Split’ dress was selected to feature on a series of Royal Mail Special Stamps in 2009, recognising British design icons of the twentieth century. Her mini skirt is one of ten 20th century design classics selected - also incorporating the Mini car, the Underground map or the red telephone box.
The ‘Banana Split’ dress is incorporated in the Mary Quant exhibition, generously lent by Orlando Plunket Greene. Joan Cecil’s offer of donation, received after the loan was secured, represents a unique opportunity to secure this design in the museum’s permanent collection.

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 and a commercial success.

Her contribution to British life was marked by a retrospective exhibition at the London Museum in 1973. The exhibition included many of Quant's most revolutionary garments, some remade as facsimiles if original ones could not be found.

T.23-2019