Vivienne Westwood

Vivienne Westwood was an influential British fashion designer, widely regarded for her bold, avant-garde designs and her role in shaping the fashion world with her unique blend of punk and traditional British aesthetics. Here’s more about her life and career:

  • Birth and Early Life: Vivienne Isabel Westwood was born on April 8, 1941, in Tintwistle, Cheshire, England. She grew up during a time of significant social and cultural change, which later influenced her work. She studied fashion at the University of Westminster, originally enrolling in a course to become a teacher but shifting to fashion design.

  • Fashion Career:

    • Punk Movement: Westwood is perhaps best known for her pivotal role in the punk fashion movement in the 1970s. She opened a boutique, Sex, on King's Road in London, with her partner Malcolm McLaren, who managed the punk band The Sex Pistols. The store became a hub for the punk scene, where Westwood designed clothes that challenged the norms of fashion and culture at the time.

    • Iconic Designs: Westwood’s designs were often provocative and political, incorporating elements such as safety pins, tartan, leather, and corsetry, which became symbols of rebellion and nonconformity. She played a key role in the popularization of punk fashion, and many of her collections featured themes of anarchy, anti-establishment sentiment, and historical references.

    • Historical and Erotic Influence: As her career progressed, Westwood’s work evolved to incorporate historical and romantic influences, alongside her punk roots. Her collections often blended elements of Victorian, Regency, and Edwardian fashion with modern, edgy styles, creating an eclectic and distinctive look.

    • Iconic Collections: One of her most notable contributions to fashion was the creation of the mini-crini (a mix of the mini skirt and crinoline), which she introduced in the 1980s. Westwood also played with iconic British symbols, such as the Union Jack, which became a part of her widely recognized designs.

  • Environmental and Political Activism: Outside of her fashion work, Westwood was also known for her activism. She was a strong advocate for environmental causes, human rights, and political change. She used her platform to promote sustainability and to challenge social and political issues, such as climate change, nuclear disarmament, and the support of marginalized communities.

  • Awards and Recognition:

    • Westwood’s influence in the fashion world was widely recognized, and she received numerous awards throughout her career, including the Fashion Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in 1990 and 1991. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2006 for her contributions to the fashion industry.

  • Legacy: Vivienne Westwood is considered one of the most influential fashion designers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Her work continues to influence contemporary designers and the fashion industry at large, and her commitment to sustainability and activism has left a lasting mark on both fashion and broader societal conversations.

  • Death: Vivienne Westwood passed away on December 29, 2022, leaving behind a legacy of groundbreaking designs and a lasting impact on fashion, culture, and activism.

Articles by the author

It's a philosophy of life. A practice. If you do this, something will change, what will change is that you will change, your life will change, and if you can change you, you can perhaps change the world.

Vivienne Westwood

Britishness is just a way of putting things together and a certain don't care attitude about clothes. You don't care, you just do it and it looks great.

Vivienne Westwood

The main message we want to get out there is that climate change is caused by the rotten economic system.

Vivienne Westwood

Real art has been... what's the word? Kidnapped? No, that's not it. But, OK, kidnapped by business.

Vivienne Westwood

We have got to change our ethics and our financial system and our whole way of understanding the world. It has to be a world in which people live rather than die; a sustainable world. It could be great.

Vivienne Westwood

The best night of my life was watching the Japanese Noh theater. I've only seen it once, but even saying it now, I think, 'How can I ever have this experience again?' It was so mesmerizing, so complicated and so primordial; I could not believe it.

Vivienne Westwood

If you saw Queen Elizabeth it would be amazing, she came from another planet. She was so attractive in what she was wearing.

Vivienne Westwood

You've got to invest in the world, you've got to read, you've got to go to art galleries, you've got to find out the names of plants. You've got to start to love the world and know about the whole genius of the human race. We're amazing people.

Vivienne Westwood

The age in which we live, this non-stop distraction, is making it more impossible for the young generation to ever have the curiosity or discipline... because you need to be alone to find out anything.

Vivienne Westwood

The reason why I am proud of my part in the punk movement is that I think it really did implant a message that was already there. The hippies told it to me, but punk made it something cool for people to stand up for, which is that we do not believe government, that we are against government.

Vivienne Westwood

I design things to help people to hopefully express their personality.

Vivienne Westwood

The thing that makes my clothes really different is that, number one, they are really great designs; they're not tacky; they are very professional; the design is made from lots of decisions.

Vivienne Westwood

I wish you didn't have to design so often. Try to do quality and cut down on quantity. I think fashion is very, very important.

Vivienne Westwood

In history people dressed much better than we do today.

Vivienne Westwood

The hippie movement politicized my generation. When it ended, we all started looking back at our own history, looking, in my case, for motives of rebellion.

Vivienne Westwood

I have too much product, and I'm trying to rein it in and sell more of my main collection. I wish you didn't have to design so often; it would be good if you could keep on selling the same things for a few years and not have to do new things all the time.

Vivienne Westwood

Women fight for democracy and engage in the world. But they shouldn't try and be copying men and be masculine; they should anchor on the home and build on those fundamentals.

Vivienne Westwood

I eat only vegetables and fruit, and to me it's the most aspirational diet because it's so easy. It's quite simple, the cooking I do.

Vivienne Westwood

I always thought we had an environmental problem, but I hadn't realized how urgent it was. James Lovelock writes that by the end of this century there will be one billion people left.

Vivienne Westwood

Economists treat economics as if it is a pure science divorced from the facts of life. The result of this false accountancy is a willful confusion under cover of which industry wreaks its havoc scot-free and ignores the environmental cost.

Vivienne Westwood