READING Read the article and tick (✓) A, B, or C.
There are times in the history of any great city when it feels thatit’s at the centre of all that’s fashionable. Though it was depressingand old-fashioned in the fifties, and a bit scruffy at the edges formost of the seventies, London led the world of fashion during the‘swinging’ years of the sixties and during the punk revolution atthe end of the seventies. Showing the way were its fashiondesigners, notably Mary Quant and Vivienne Westwood.Mary QuantMary Quant left Goldsmith College, London, in the early fiftieswith very clear ideas of what she wanted to achieve in the worldof fashion. She was fed up with the idea that high fashion shouldbe for the rich and the middle-aged, and thought that it should befun and liberating. She started making clothes designed aroundsimple shapes and patterns, and bright colours.Mary had been lucky enough to meet and marry a wealthybusinessman called Alexander Plunket Green while she was atcollege, and it was his investment that allowed her to open a shopsoon after finishing her studies. Mary opened a boutique in theKing’s Road, Chelsea, in the centre of London. The year was1955. It was an immediate success, thanks to her innovativedesigns, comparatively low prices, and eccentric window displays,which made the clothes look even more stylish.By the mid sixties, Mary Quant was a household name, and afashion leader of sorts. She had popularized, some people wouldsay invented, the mini skirt, which was arguably the most iconicfashion statement of the sixties, and she had done more thananyone to make clothes youthful, sexy, and natural.Vivienne WestwoodIn 1971, Vivienne Westwood’s partner, and the father of her sonJoseph, opened a shop in the King’s Road called Let it Rock. Hisname was Malcolm Maclaren. Vivienne, who had briefly studied atthe Harrow School of Art in London, then started to sell herdesigns in the shop. They weren’t ordinary clothes, nor were theyinexpensive. She combined traditional British materials such astartan with more outrageous items like black leather, metalchains, large safety pins, razor blades, and dog collars.After years of selling to a small, alternative set of customers,Vivienne’s designs were suddenly in demand overnight after thepunk rock band The Sex Pistols wore her clothes at their first gig.Perhaps they loved the style, but it is more likely that theirmanager, Malcolm Maclaren, influenced their choice of shop.Although probably motivated by Maclaren’s business interests,the clothes and band worked well together. The band’s anarchicenergy combined with Vivienne’s sense of punk style to take theworld by storm in the late seventies, rocking the foundations ofthe fashion world. The influence of those designs is still felt today.In more recent years, Vivienne has introduced many otherelements into her fashion design, such as ways of cutting materialborrowed from eighteenth-century clothes makers, and patternsfirst used by indigenous South American peoples. She is alwayslooking for the innovative and shocking, and her ready-to-wearclothes, while no longer strictly punk, are still different and edgy.

1London was trendy .
A during the fifties
B in the sixties
C for the whole of the seventies
2 When Mary Quant finished college, she .
A knew what she would like to do
B was bored with fashion
C designed clothes for wealthy people
3 In the early 1950s, high-fashion clothes were .
A colourful and fun
B only worn by certain people
C easy to make
4 Mary’s husband .
A helped her design the clothes
B helped her to start her business
C was also a student when she was at college
5 When Mary opened her shop, .
A it was popular from the beginning
B there were problems with the shop’s Windows
C she worked hard on the designs
6 The writer of the text believes that Mary .
A invented the mini skirt
B made the mini skirt popular
C introduced young people to fashion
7 Vivienne sold her clothes in .
A her own shop
B ashop that sold music and clothes
C a shop owned by someone else
8 People liked Vivienne’s clothes because they were .
A different from other clothes that were available
B much cheaper than high-fashion garments
C used traditional designs
9 The punk band The Sex Pistols probably wore Vivienne’sdesigns because .
A they liked the style
B their manager decided they should wear them
C they needed something unusual for their first gig
10 Recently, Vivienne has started using .
A 18th-century pattern
B 18th-century materials
C 18th-century techniques

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