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Vivienne Isabel Westwood (8 April 1941-29 December 2022) was an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream.
In 2022, Sky Arts ranked her the 4th most influential artist in Britain of the last 50 years.
Westwood came to public notice when she made clothes for the boutique that she and Malcolm McLaren ran on King's Road, which became known as Sex. Their ability to synchronise clothing and music shaped the 1970s UK punk scene, which included McLaren's band, the Sex Pistols. She viewed punk as a way of seeing if one could put a spoke in the system.
Westwood opened four shops in London and eventually expanded throughout Britain and the world, selling a varied range of merchandise, some of which promoted her political causes such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, climate change and civil rights groups.
Westwood was born in Hollingworth, Cheshire, on 8 April 1941. She grew up in nearby Tintwistle, and was the daughter of Gordon Swire and Dora Swire (née Ball), who had married two years previously, two weeks after the outbreak of the Second World War. At the time of Vivienne's birth, her father was employed as a storekeeper in an aircraft factory; he had previously worked as a greengrocer.
In 1958, her family moved to Harrow, Greater London. Westwood took a jewellery and silversmith course at the University of Westminster, then known as the Harrow Art School, but left after one term, saying: I didn't know how a working-class girl like me could possibly make a living in the art world. After taking a job in a factory and studying at a teacher-training college, she became a primary-school teacher. During this period, she created her own jewellery, which she sold at a stall on Portobello Road.
Westwood was one of the architects of the punk fashion phenomenon of the 1970s, saying I was messianic about punk, seeing if one could put a spoke in the system in some way.
Westwood's emergence as a designer who made garments that reflected the economic, social, and political contexts of 1970s Britain coincided with a disillusioned youth, who developed a unique style of dress and musical expression which was instantly identifiable through its aesthetic and sound.
Westwood's boutique, originally managed with McLaren, was a meeting place for early members of the London punk scene. The boutique regularly changed names and interior design through the 1970s to fit with collections and design inspirations. It remains in its original location at 430 Kings Road, Chelsea, London (under the name Worlds End since 1980, following a short period of closure in the 1980s) to this day.
McLaren and Westwood were keen entrepreneurs, and their designs sold in their boutique -named Let It Rock, Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die, Sex, and subsequently Seditionare- helped to define and market the punk look at the exact moment that it exploded in popularity on the streets of London.
Westwood's designs during the Punk Era and thereafter were informed by historicism; the V&A describing Westwood as a meticulous researcher.
Westwood began challenging gender norms and promoting experimentation in her designs, which at the outset were created in collaboration with McLaren.
More information: Vivienne Westwood
Westwood's designs were independent and represented a statement of her own values. She collaborated on occasion with Gary Ness, who assisted Westwood with inspirations and titles for her collections.
McLaren and Westwood's first fashion collection to be shown to the media and potential international buyers was Pirate, combining 18th and 19th century dress, British history and textiles with African prints.
She dubbed the period 1981-85 New Romantic (during which time she created the famous look of the band Adam and the Ants) and 1988-91 as The Pagan Years during which Vivienne's heroes changed from punks and ragamuffins to Tatler girls wearing clothes that parodied the upper class.
In July 2011, Westwood's collections were presented at The Brandery fashion show in Barcelona.
Westwood was a longtime supporter of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, and called for his release from custody.
In June 2013, Westwood dedicated one of her collections to Chelsea Manning and at her fashion show she and all her models wore large image badges of Manning with the word Truth under her picture.
In 2012, she used her appearances at London Fashion Week to push for Assange's release by presenting I am Julian Assange t-shirts. She visited him several times during his political asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and in Belmarsh Prison after his arrest in April 2019.
In July 2020, she protested outside London's Old Bailey court against Assange's possible extradition to the United States by wearing a yellow pantsuit and suspending herself in a giant birdcage. Describing herself as the canary in the coal mine, she said she was half-poisoned already from government corruption of law and gaming of the legal system by government.
For Assange's wedding to Stella Moris in March 2022 in Belmarsh Prison, the groom wore an outfit based on a Scottish kilt and the bride a dress with a graffiti application, both designs by Westwood and her husband, Austrian fashion designer Andreas Kronthaler.
More information: The Guardian
Vivienne Westwood
