Vivienne Westwood - the grand lady of avant-garde fashion

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Her collections are shocking and inspiring. Her cut is impressive and amazing. Echoes of her creations can be found in the collections of famous designers, and in models of the mass market.

Vivienne Westwood - an inexhaustible source of new ideas

Vivienne Westwood (photo: commons.wikimedia.org)
Vivien Isabelle Swire was born in 1941 in Derbyshire, England. At 17, she moved to London with her family, where she graduated from a teacher training college and studied for one semester at an art school in Harrow. Then she created her first collection of jewelry, safely sold at a local kiosk.

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In 1962, Vivienne married Derek Westwood, the manager of the dance hall, gave birth to two children, but after three years the family broke up - Derek’s business went bad, there was a catastrophic lack of money, and scandals constantly flared up. After the divorce, Vivienne Westwood worked as a teacher until in the late 60s she met a student of the art school and future producer of the infamous Sex Pistols band, Malcolm McLaren. It was he who prompted Westwood to seriously engage in fashion design. And in 1971, they opened the Let It Rock store (1971−1973) at King's Road in Chelsea, where they sold music CDs and clothing in a reborn 50s Teddy Boy style. The store was later renamed Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die (1973-1974), and then to Sex (1974-1976). The changes in the name were not accidental: Vivienne and Malcolm felt the approach of the end of the hippie era and began to sell punk clothes. Of course, Vivienne Westwood was not the creator of style, but she was the first to turn to the aesthetics of shocking, eclecticism, parodying traditions, transferring them to the field of clothing design.

Elizabeth-II (Photo: pl.wikipedia.org)
So, for example, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s accession to the throne, Second Westwood issued T-shirts with a royal portrait, on which Her Royal Majesty's mouth was pierced with an English pin, which shocked the conservative British public and… made her store even more popular.
With the breakup of Sex Pistols, Vivienne Westwood is losing interest in punk clothing and is passionate about transforming the historical costume. In 1981, the designer released his first collection, Three Musketeers, and renamed his store into World's End, completely refitting it. Her debut collection subsequently became an inspiration for young designers John Galliano and Alexander McQueen. In 1981, Vivienne presents his collections at London Fashion Week, and since 1983 at the Paris Fashion Week.

Outrageous collections with impeccable cut

In the next collection was presented clothing with Native American motifs and was called "Savages". "Savages" and "Tramps" in 1982 made popular a new style of "tatters and holes." The designer created clothes that mimicked the fashionable classic luxury of the decade, with seams to the outside, loose loops and holes. The fashion models' hairs were stained at the shows, hats with feathers were sewn from burlap. In the same 1982, Vivienne Westwood put on bras over blouses on models, which became the prerequisite for the development of the lingerie style (he created his famous corset for the singer Madonna a year later). The last “Witches” collection with Malcolm Maclaren with jacquard sweaters and voluminous double-breasted coats at the time made a lot of noise.

mini crini collection (Photo: flickr.com)
In 1984, Vivienne Westwood introduced the fluffy short skirts “mini crinis” (mini crinolines) combined with corsages, and then “Hariss Tweed” with traditional fabrics and a new vision of classic styles. In 1987, the designer presented a collection with parodies of royal robes and a Scottish costume.The clothes were demonstrated by disheveled bbw with tattoos on her shoulders and smeared make-up - in bodice-corsets, plaid mini-skirts and shoes on a wooden platform. However, behind the provocations and attempts on the foundations of fashion stood a virtuoso cut of models and impeccable execution, for which Westwood was named the "Best Designer of the Year" in Britain in 1990 and 1991.

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In 1990, Vivienne launched a men's clothing line, presenting it in Florence. In the same year, Vivienne Westwood released her famous collection "Portrait". In 1992, the designer became an Honorary Member of the Royal Society of Arts. In the same year, Queen Elizabeth II awarded Vivienne the Order of the OBE (Order of the British Empire) at Buckingham Palace.

Naomi Campbell shoes (photo: commons.wikimedia.org)
In 1993, at the fall-winter collection, the fashion designer presented shoes on 25-centimeter platforms, saying that she loves to "put a woman on a pedestal, and in the literal sense of the word."

Naomi Campbell (photo: it.wikipedia.org)
The show was marked by the fall of the famous model Naomi Campbell. In 1998, the Vivienne Westwood brand received the Royal Award for Contributing to Export Development. From the same year, Vivienne Westwood launched several clothing lines under the brands Gold Label (luxury women's clothing), Red Label (youth ready-to-wear), Man (men's clothing), Anglomania (casual wear in unisex style). In the late 90s, the designer released the perfume "Boudoir" ("Boudoir"). In 2008, Vivienne was invited as a professor at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna.
Vivienne Westwood's clients include Gwen Stefani, Gary Hall, Mick Jagger, Pete Burns, Nakashima Mika, Firn Cotton, Naomi Campbell and others.

photo: kinopoisk.ru
In the wedding dress from Vivienne Westwood, the character of Sarah Jessica Parker, Carrie Bradshaw, appeared in the feature film Sex and the City.
Now Vivienne Westwood is creating together with her husband-designer Andreas Kronthaler.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
“My clothes are uncompromising in the sense that she’s not going to sell herself to you. If you want to have them, she will make you incredibly strong. But she doesn’t ask you to want to buy them - you have to decide it yourself. And when you wear it , she says the following about you: “I am the one to be reckoned with, so either love me or leave me alone.” She allows you to design your personality, she’s a little theatrical in the sense that she’s real clothes, but it gives you a chance to express yourself. She also disposes to herself, she kind of invites people to come up to you, talk, get to know. The bonus is also that you automatically protect yourself from the attention of conservative personalities - these just won't suit you, "- Vivien Westwood, from an interview with Matt Callard.

Maria Prokudina

Maria is a longtime member of our friendly sewing community, one of the BurdaStyle.ru old-timers. Sewing learned from the patterns of the magazine Burda.
In 2013 Masha became the winner of the contest Burda Style spring-summer season. A couple of years ago, I decided to comprehend the intricacies of sewing under the guidance of our eminent teachers at the Burda Academy, in order to learn how to design and model patterns on our own. And more recently, she graduated from the school of style.
She maintains her blog and page on Instagram.
For Masha, sewing is an art! The art of materializing ideas and expressing oneself!

Article author: Maria Prokudina
Material prepared by Julia Dekanova

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