British fashion designer Mary Quant dies age 93

 MIAMI -- British fashion designer Mary Quant, credited with turning the miniskirt into a worldwide phenomenon, has died age 93, her family announced in a statement via the PA news agency.

Quant died peacefully at her home in Surrey, south of London, on Thursday morning, according to the statement.

Her family called her "one of the most internationally recognised fashion designers of the 20th Century and an outstanding innovator."

Quant launched one of the first global super brands, shaping a new era in fashion. The miniskirt became a defining staple of the Swinging Sixties.

For women who came of age wearing them, Quant's designs represented freedom, empowerment, and the rejection of their parents' aesthetic standards.

Alexandra Shulman, former editor-in-chief of British Vogue, paid tribute to Quant Thursday, posting on Twitter: "RIP Dame Mary Quant. A leader of fashion but also in female entrepreneurship- a visionary who was much more than a great haircut."

The Victoria & Albert Museum said: "It's impossible to overstate Quant's contribution to fashion. She represented the joyful freedom of 1960s fashion, and provided a new role model for young women.

"Fashion today owes so much to her trailblazing vision."