<P> Several designers have been credited with the invention of the 1960s miniskirt, most significantly the London - based designer Mary Quant and the Parisian André Courrèges . Although Quant reportedly named the skirt after her favourite make of car, the Mini, there is no consensus as to who designed it first . Valerie Steele has noted that the claim that Quant was first is more convincingly supported by evidence than the equivalent Courrèges claim . However, the contemporary fashion journalist Marit Allen, who edited the influential "Young Ideas" pages for UK Vogue, firmly stated that the British designer John Bates was the first to offer fashionable miniskirts . Other designers, including Pierre Cardin and Yves Saint Laurent, had also been raising hemlines at the same time . </P> <Dl> <Dt> Mary Quant </Dt> </Dl> <P> The miniskirt is one of the garments most widely associated with Mary Quant . Quant herself is ambivalent about the claim that she invented the miniskirt, stating that her customers should take credit, as she herself wore very short skirts, and they requested even shorter hemlines for themselves . Regardless of whether or not Quant invented the miniskirt, it is widely agreed that she was one of its highest - profile champions . Quant loved Mini Cooper cars and named the garment after them, saying that car and skirt were both "optimistic, exuberant, young, flirty," and complemented each other . </P> <P> Quant had started experimenting with shorter skirts in the late 1950s, when she started making her own designs up to stock her boutique on the King's Road . Among her inspirations was the memory of seeing a young tap - dancer wearing a "tiny skirt over thick black tights," influencing her designs for young, active women who did not wish to resemble their mothers . In addition to the miniskirt, Quant is often credited with inventing the coloured and patterned tights that tended to accompany the garment, although their creation is also attributed to the Spanish couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga who offered harlequin - patterned tights in 1962 or to Bates . </P>

Who popularized the mini skirt in the 60s