John Bates (designer) the Year and donated to the Fashion Museum, Bath, which in 2006 held a major retrospective show of his work. One of Bates' most influential champions was Marit Allen, the editor of British Vogue's Young Ideas spread, who considered Bates the true inventor of the miniskirt, rather than Mary Quant or André Courrèges. Ernestine Carter also observed Bates' originality, noting that the Paris fashion collections for 1967 contained many looks which Bates had done first. In 1965 Bates designed memorable outfits for Diana Rigg to wear for her role as Emma Peel in "The Avengers", including Op-Art mini-coats and accessories
Miniskirt that she invented the miniskirt, stating that her customers should take credit, as she herself wore very short skirts, and they requested even shorter hemlines for themselves. Regardless of whether or not Quant invented the miniskirt, it is widely agreed that she was one of its highest-profile champions. Quant loved cars and named the garment after them, saying that car and skirt were both "optimistic, exuberant, young, flirty," and complemented each other. Quant had started experimenting with shorter skirts in the late 1950s, when she started making her own designs up to stock her boutique on the King's Road. Among