Dame Vivienne Westwood, DBE, RDI (born Vivienne Isabel Swire on 8 April 1941) is a British fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream
Early life
Westwood was born Vivienne Isabel Swire in the village of Tintwistle, Derbyshire[N 1] on 8 April 1941; the daughter of Gordon Swire and Dora Swire (néeBall), who had married two years previously, two weeks after the outbreak of World War II. 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.
Aged 17, Vivienne and her family moved to Harrow, London. She studied at the Harrow School of Art, taking fashion and silversmithing, but she 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 up a job in a factory and studying at a teacher-training college, she became a primary school teacher. During this period, she also created her own jewellery, which she would sell at a stall onPortobello Road.
In 1961, Vivienne Swire met Derek Westwood, a Hoover[disambiguation needed] factory apprentice, in Harrow. They married on 21 July 1962 and Vivienne made her own wedding dress for the ceremony. In 1963, she gave birth to a son, Benjamin Westwood.
Malcolm McLaren
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Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols wearing a Seditionaries t-shirt
When she met Malcolm McLaren, it signified the end of Westwood's marriage to Derek. Westwood and McLaren moved to a council flat in Clapham. Westwood continued to teach until 1971 when Malcolm decided to open a boutique at 430 King's Road called "Let It Rock" (later known variously as "Sex", "Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die", and "Seditionaries"). Westwood created clothes which McLaren conceived, drawing inspiration from bikers, fetishists and prostitutes. During this period, McLaren became manager of the punk band Sex Pistols and subsequently the two garnered attention as the band wore Westwood and McLaren's designs. Whilst living in their flat in Clapham, Westwood and McLaren had a child, another son named Joseph.
Punk era
Westwood was deeply interested by 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 still owns this shop, which is now known as World's End, from which she sells the World's End label.
The "punk style" included BDSM fashion, bondage gear, safety pins, razor blades, bicycle or lavatory chains on clothing and spiked dog collars for jewelry, as well as outrageous make-up and hair. Essential design elements include the adoption of traditional elements of Scottish design such as tartan fabric. Amongst the more unusual elements of her style is the use of historical 17th and 18th century cloth cutting principles, and reinterpreting these in, for instance, radical cutting lines to men's trousers. Use of these traditional elements make the overall effect of her designs more shocking.
Westwood and McLaren worked together to revolutionise fashion and their impact is still strongly felt today.
Vivienne Westwood (company)
Westwood has five exclusively-owned shops; three in London, one in Leeds, and one in Milan. Franchise stores are located in Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow, three in Manchester and most recently, in FH Mall, Nottingham (20 March 2008), and in Blake Street, York (11 September 2008).
Artistic collections
The pair of heels designed by Westwood in which Naomi Campbell famously stumbled while modelling at Westwood's fashion show in 1993
Her first catwalk show was presented in 1981, featuring the collaboration of Westwood and McLaren. The theme that year was Pirates. Subsequent Westwood's theme titles in the early years included Savage (1982), Buffalo Girls (Autumn/Winter 1982-83) and Clint Eastwood, (Autumn-Winter 1984-85) (“Sometimes you need to transport your idea to an empty landscape and then populate it with fantastic looking people.”).
She dubbed the period 1988 to 1992 "The Pagan Years" during which "Vivienne’s heroes changed from punks and ragamuffins to ‘Tatler’ girls wearing clothes that parodied the upper class." The period from 1993 to 1999 she called "Anglomania" and from 2000 to the present - "Exploration".
Her Autumn/Winter 2005/06 Propaganda Collection drew inspiration from her archive, reinterpreting designs using Wolford's exclusive knitting technology. Westwood has worked in close collaboration with Wolford since 2003. In 2006, she collaborated with Nine West, whose shoes are not designed directly by Westwood, however the Nine West brand name shares its label with Westwood. Westwood's Gold Label and MAN hats are created by Prudence Millinery. In December 2003, she and the Wedgwood pottery company launched a series of tea sets featuring her designs.
The first major retrospective of her work was shown in 2004–5 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. The exhibition, created from approximately 145 complete outfits grouped into the themes from the early 1970s to the present day, was drawn from her own personal archive and the V&A's extensive collection. The designs ranged from early punk garments to glamorous "historical" evening gowns.
Artistic influence
Westwood has influenced the launch of the careers of other designers into the British fashion industry. She employed the services of Patrick Cox to design shoes for her Clint Eastwood collection in 1984. The result was a prototype for nine-inch-heeled shoes like the ones worn by supermodel Naomi Campbell when she fell during a Westwood fashion show in Paris in 1994.
Sex and the City
Demonstrating the impact of her long career, Westwood's designs were featured in the 2008 film adaptation of the award winning television series Sex and the City. In the film version of the television series, Carrie Bradshaw becomes engaged to long term lover Mr. Big. Being a writer at Vogue, her editor invites her to model wedding dresses for an upcoming article called "The Last Single Girl". One of the dresses featured in the photo shoot is a design made by Westwood and it is subsequently sent to Carrie as a gift, with a handwritten note from Westwood herself. Although she has already picked an outfit for the wedding, Carrie immediately decides to wear the Westwood gown instead. Despite being invited to participate in the making of the movie, Westwood was unimpressed with the costuming by renowned stylist Patricia Field. She walked out of the film's London premiere after 10 minutes, publicly criticising the clothing featured as being frumpy and boring. The wedding dress has subsequently become widely recognised as one of the movie's most iconic features and has led Westwood to approach the producers about being involved in making a sequel.
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