Westwood soon made an international name for itself with its radical and flamboyant approach. His fashion has already walked the catwalks of London, Paris, Milan and New York. The reach was broad, but the work was never predictable. “They gave a look, a style to the punk movement, and it was so radical that it broke with everything in the past,” Andrew Bolton, curator of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of New York, told the Associated Press (AP). .
“The ripped shirts, the safety pins, the provocative slogans. She introduced postmodernism. She was very influential from the mid-1970s onwards. The punk movement never ended – it became part of our fashion vocabulary. It’s popular now.” As Westwood has aged, her clothes have also been featured in various museum collections.
December 29, 2022.
Vivienne Westwood died today, peacefully and surrounded by her family, in Clapham, south London.
The world needs people like Vivienne to make a change for the better. pic.twitter.com/YQwVixYUrV
— Vivienne Westwood (@FollowWestwood) December 29, 2022
Fashion for the Sex Pistols
Westwood’s life and career were full of contradictions. Westwood, who was born near Manchester in 1941 and is the daughter of a cotton spinner and grocer, only quit her teaching job in the 1970s and began her career in fashion. The mother of two had already started sewing clothes for her children. In the mid-70s, she was known for inventing punk fashion. She was best known for her androgynous cuts and provocative taglines.
AP/Martin Meissner Orange hair was Westwood’s trademark
Westwood is considered a pioneer of punk in the fashion industry. Along with then art student Malcolm McLaren, she ran a boutique with frequently changing names from Let it rock to Too fast to live on London’s King’s Road. The joint venture was later renamed Sex. In late 1975, McLaren began managing a punk rock band made up of the store’s regular customers – the Sex Pistols. They became famous for using Westwood and McLaren designs. Westwood took the success of the King’s Road to the world and built a global fashion brand that now has stores in Britain, France, Italy, America and Asia.
Fight the establishment, honored by the Queen
She aroused public opinion with her disrespectful attitude towards the establishment just as another controversial woman, Margaret Thatcher, stepped onto the – political – stage as British Prime Minister. Westwood rebelled against the society she came from, but still relied on attributes such as the orb, which she surrounded with a Saturn ring as her logo. Even after leaving McLaren, she remained true to her rebellious creativity. She was inspired by 18th and 19th century fashion and designed raucous and eccentric versions of the magnificent gowns.
Portal/Luke MacGregor The designer defended her stance on the fight against the climate crisis
The rebellious designer, who rejected the British establishment, has been honored several times by Queen Elizabeth II, who also died in 2022. In 1992 she was admitted to the Order of the British Empire, 14 years later the Queen made her a lady.
However, Westwood did not become the stylist for Buckingham Palace. Instead, she recommended that the style icon and Duchess Kate of the time downsize her outfits – for the sake of protecting the environment. Westwood, his trademark orange hair, ended up using his notoriety to fight global warming. She also brought climate change to the runway. Westwood is survived by her partner Kronthaler and two sons-photographer Ben Westwood and Joseph Corre, founder of lingerie company Agent Provocateur.