Vivienne Westwood –Fashion Designer

Vivienne Westwood was a British Fashion Designer known for her Provocative clothing. She influenced the 1970's Punk Music Movement into Fashion.

She was a self taught Designer, but soon established her identity as a leading independent designer.

A turning point was reached with Westwood's "mini-crini" design, a thigh-grazing crinoline that debuted in her spring/summer 1985 collection and was made of both cotton and tweed. For the next two decades, she designed collections that drew inspiration from historical British dress, including the 19th-century bustle, which Westwood incorporated under elaborate knitwear dresses and tartan miniskirts, as well as classical sources, particularly the paintings of Jean-Honoré Fragonard, François Boucher, and Thomas Gainsborough.

Independently, Westwood established her own namesake mini-empire of clothing, running a number of boutiques, creating two menswear and three womenswear collections each year, along with bridal wear, shoes, hosiery, eyeglasses, scarves, ties, knitwear, cosmetics, and perfumes. A retrospective of her works debuted at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London on April 1, 2004. The largest exhibition the museum had ever devoted to a British designer was "Vivienne Westwood: 34 Years in Fashion." She was awarded the OBE (Officer of the British Empire) in 1992 and the DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) in 2006.