I did not feel that I really knew Mary Quant as a person as well as the other female characters. It is clear that she was extremely talented, productive and driven, as well able to understand and create for the market, even as the market evolved. Her relationship with Alexander was puzzling to me. He was not a likable character, and I feel the author glossed over that and did not describe much about their personal relationship.
Patricia_Mitchell, I agree, I wanted more depth on Mary Quant. I did like what she included but more would have been great. But maybe there isn’t a lot available?
In my teens and early 20s in London during the 1960s, from what I learned of Mary Quant, I recall her being totally focused on her clothing designs and manufacture - almost myopic in that respect. Consequently, the portrayal of her character in Chelsea Girls appears to be probably accurate.
Her husband, Alexander, and her business partner facilitated the domestic and international growth of MQ’s clothing and accessory lines. Most other characters in the novel are fictional, allowing the author to build and embellish those characters to her own choosing to tell the MQ story.
Your point about the other characters being fictional does explain that the author was free to create fuller personalities. TX.
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I agree with patricia. What did we really learn abotu mary Quant? There were no chapters with her as the narrator. No explanation of why she trusted her business and future to Alexander when she seemed to knwo what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to stand up to her parents , but caved to him. She wanted a child and he didn’t. He was ready to expand to the US, she was reluctant. Who was this book about anyway??
I agree with others in regards to Mary and her husband. The author definitely better described her made up characters than Mary. Mary seemed to be a very private person, perhaps that’s the reason for the lack of her life’s details. Personally, I feel the author simply could not find enough hard facts on her personal life to make it into her book. I am curious about her sudden departures, often weeks at a time. Did she suffer mental problems and to what extend did it affect her life and her business? Exploring that phase of her life would have given the book some extra looks into her life.
I agree with Carol! It was an ok book to read, but Mary Quant was not reh main character in this book. It was mostly a slice of life abot young women in the 60’s. Perhaps the autor should have written about Daphene or Chrissie as the main character as she could more easily develop one of them than say this was about Mary Quant. It was about a time of life.
Thanks for all these good thoughts. I understand more now. The title is The Chelsea Girls, and they are the focus, along with the culture of the times. Now I need to read a biography of Mary Quant ! It’s always good when you read a book, and it leads to reading another book, ha!
I thought that Mary Quant was portrayed as a very single-minded woman from the beginning. She knew what she wanted to do from a young age and she knew who the man she wanted was. She knew that she wanted a baby. She did not stop until she always got what she wanted. I love how she got the idea for a make±up line! She really cared about making products that were attractive to and made womens’’ lives easier and more fun. I absolutely loved this book and reading about all of Mary’s successes in spite of her shyness.