Vivienne Westwood
1941-2022
Fashion’s original punk pioneered the youth movement back in the ‘60s with her subversive, anti-fashion statements.
Vivienne Westwood had been at the epicentre of British fashion since she began selling her punk-inspired designs in Malcom McLaren’s influential Kings Road store, Sex, in the 1970s.
The Dame of the British Empire revolutionised what is deemed appropriate to wear in public. Indeed, it was she who first introduced bondage trousers and other aspects of BDSM, along with safety pins and chains to the fashion mainstream. Her use of 17th and 18th century cutting techniques, especially the radical cutting lines she developed for men’s trousers, continue to be used and emulated today.
Westwood’s first runway presentation titled Pirates was staged in 1981. She continued to create collections titled Savage, Buffalo Girls, New Romantics and The Pagan Years.
An activist by conscience, Westwood often littered her designs with slogans and other political calls to action, though they were no less beautiful for it. Westwood’s primary political concerns shifted over the years; she was predominately an activist for climate change, nuclear disarmament and civil rights, especially that of freedom of speech. “I make the great claim for my manifesto that it penetrates to the root of the human predicament and offers the underlying solution. We have a choice to become more cultivated, and therefore more human; or by not choosing, to be the destructive and self-destroying animal, the victim of our own cleverness. To be or not to be…” she wrote in a manifesto entitled Active Resistance to Propaganda.
Westwood studied at the Harrow School of Art and the University of Westminster, taking courses in fashion and silver-smithing, but left after one term. "I didn't know how a working-class girl like me could possibly make a living in the art world," she said. After taking up a job in a factory, then training to be an educator, she became a primary school teacher. During this period, she also created her own jewellery, which she would sell at a stall on London's Portobello Road.
Westwood died at the age of 81. Her brand announced the news of her death on 29th December 2022.
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What is The BoF 500?
The people shaping the global fashion industry, curated by the editors of The Business of Fashion, based on nominations and on-the-ground intelligence from around the world.
ExploreWhat is The BoF 500?
The people shaping the global fashion industry, curated by the editors of The Business of Fashion, based on nominations and on-the-ground intelligence from around the world.
ExploreThe Spirit of Westwood
From Harris Reed to Matty Bovan, there was a whiff of Dame Vivienne in the opening days of London Fashion Week, writes Susanna Lau.
Vivienne Westwood, Priestess of Punk, Has Died
The anti-establishment designer pioneered the punk look in mid-1970s London, leaving a lasting impact on fashion and wider culture.
What the Queen Means to Designers
Queen Elizabeth was an inspiration for fashion designers from Vivienne Westwood to Alessandro Michele to Richard Quinn. Will any British royal have the same influence again?
Vivienne Westwood’s Climate SOS
In the first session of BoF’s VOICES 2021 gathering, speakers including Vivienne Westwood and Janaya Future Khan addressed the climate crisis, stakeholder capitalism, what activism really means and more.
At Paris Fashion Week, Real Life and Liberation
Reality was front and centre at Paris Fashion Week, but this season’s winners both addressed and transcended our current state of affairs, reports Angelo Flaccavento, who beamed into Paris from his base in Italy.
Shanghai Fashion Week: A Barometer for the World’s Largest Fashion Market
China’s fashion capital will be the first to completely return to live, physical shows but insiders concede it’s not quite ‘business as usual.’
The Vampire’s Wife Plots Expansion Plan With a Surprising Investor
Jimmy Iovine and Liberty Ross have taken a majority stake in designer Susie Cave's bewitching dress line, which has found success outside the traditional fashion system. Can one of the music industry’s most legendary talent scouts help scale the business?
The Vampire’s Wife Plots Expansion Plan With a Surprising Investor
Jimmy Iovine and Liberty Ross have taken a majority stake in designer Susie Cave's bewitching dress line, which has found success outside the traditional fashion system. Can one of the music industry’s most legendary talent scouts help scale the business?
The Great Beyond at Louis Vuitton
Virgil Abloh was an architect. Now he needs to learn how to become an alchemist.
At Pitti Uomo, Masculinity in a State of Flux
The latest edition of the Florentine event was buoyed by the mix of modern edge and sartorial knowledge brought by Stefano Pilati’s Random Identities.