Mary Quant and me
Having redefined London street fashion, by the mid-1960s Mary Quant declared “now that the clothes were different the face was wrong”. In 1966, she went into partnership with American-owned Gala Cosmetic Group to manufacture beauty products in Britain and embarked on an innovative campaign to market a constantly transforming range of make-up to the world. Auckland businesswoman Rowena Roberts was recruited by the company in the early days of the campaign, and here she talks about her memories of the Mary Quant project.
Sophie Matthiesson: Rowena, you’re the daughter of well-known musician Don Honeywill, and you grew up in Surrey, near London, in the 1960s. Can you describe what Mary Quant meant to you when you first came to work for her?
She was amazing. I already knew about Mary Quant ahead of working for her in 1971. My sister and I went with our father to the BBC recording studios across London every week. My dad was a session musician in the
