Miniskirt her inspirations was the memory of seeing a young tap-dancer wearing a "tiny skirt over thick black tights," influencing her designs for young, active women who did not wish to resemble their mothers. In addition to the miniskirt, Quant is often credited with inventing the coloured and patterned tights that tended to accompany the garment, although their creation is also attributed to the Spanish couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga who offered harlequin-patterned tights in 1962 or to Bates. In 2009, a Mary Quant minidress was among the 10 British "design classics" featured on a series of Royal Mail stamps, alongside the Tube
Miniskirt not called "mini" until the 1960s. Figurines produced by the Vinča culture (c. 5700–4500 BCE) have been interpreted by archaeologists as representing women in miniskirt-like garments. One of the oldest surviving garments resembling a miniskirt is the short woollen skirt with bronze ornaments worn by the Egtved Girl for her burial in the Nordic Bronze Age (c. 1390–1370 BCE). One of the earliest known cultures where women regularly wore clothing resembling miniskirts was a subgroup of the Miao people of China, the Duan Qun Miao (, literally "short skirt Miao"). In albums produced during the Qing dynasty (1644–1912) from the