Mary Quant V&A exhibition is a fun and inspired blast from the past

SARAH URWIN JONES

could afford the six guineas or so required to get one’s hands on them.

What gives this exhibition another dimension is the testimony from the people who owned the dresses – which had names like “Prim” or “Prude” or “Miss Muppet” or “Cad” – who lived the life, whether in Kensington or the wilds of suburban Croydon and beyond, and feature in the photos and text that accompany each dress on display, often donated by the person who wore it, the “affordable fashion” that contrasted so much with the lavish couture that had hitherto dominated the fashion world. It’s as much a snapshot of a period in time as the clothes themselves, from Quants forays into coloured tights that allowed the miniest of skirts, to the make-up range and the low-heeled shoes, the underwear and the raincoats.

There are the Daisy dolls for children to dress up, the sticker books, footage of parties and fashion shows, reminiscences from those who worked with Quant or wore her clothes. Most of all, you can feel the energy that created this new fashion world, and still feel inspired by it.

Mary Quant, V&A Dundee, 1 Riverside Esplanade, Dundee, 01382 411 611, www. vam.ac.uk/dundee Until 17 Jan 2021, Thurs Mon, 10am - 5pm, Book time slots and tickets online: £6-£10, Concessions available

THE Common Guild’s latest project is “In the Open”, a series of audio works to be listened to, ideally outside. Conceived of during lockdown, as a means of bringing art and thought to those on their daily walks, artists involved include Luke Fowler, Lauren Gault, Duncan Marquiss, Margaret Salmon, Ashanti Harris and Sulaiman Majali. Ashanti Harris’s online audio work, “History Haunts the Body,” is the latest to be released, with Majali’s the final instalment in the project, available next week.

Harris’ work is centred around the related lives of four historical women of colour who came from Guyana – a country historically under British colonial power dominated by sugar plantations run by wealthy Scots – and who lived in or had some contact with Scotland, each with very different experiences.

Each has their biography told, with a second voice interspersing relaxation techniques, whether for the listener, or for the women who are the subject of the piece, is ambiguous.

Behind it all the hum of Cromarty Harbour on the Black Isle, which has the effect of making the stories of the women feel even more immediate.

Harris herself came from Guyana and is now based in Glasgow, making art that is based around dance, performance and sculpture, interested in the movement of people, the reinvestigation of the colonial past, and the forgotten histories of the women who lived it. “History Haunts the Body” is a thoughtful, fascinating 20 minutes of hidden history, the very human stories of how women of colour have had to survive and – against the odds – succeed in living their lives and protecting their families.