Vivienne WESTWOOD: Punk in Fashion

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD

TEXT by RACHEL VANDENBERG

Vivienne Westwood began a creative partnership with Malcom Mclaren and eventually got married. Malcom was managing the Sex Pistols around the time Vivienne began to make clothes. They opened a store that continually changed its name along with the style of clothing.

WORLDS END/SEX Clothing from the sex shops that had exploded onto the punk scene were expiremental with the leather and bondage. It ushered in the style to take over punk in the late seventies. The store changed names along with the clothing; “Let it Rock”, “Sex”, “Seditionaries”, “Too Fast to Live”, and “Too Young to Die”. One of the most important pieces that came from the shop was a ripped up muslin shirt with a swastika, upside down Christ, Sex Pistols lyrics and a symbol of royalty with the word “DESTROY” spray painted in red. This was an ode to her contrarian, anarchic views, her stance against authoritarianism, and her challenging of the older generation. Vivienne Westwood used her designs as a creative medium to express her political ideologies. She confronts the establishment in clothing collaged and ripped brilliantly. NEW ROMANTICS The Pirate collection kicked off the 80s for Westwood with its unisex style. It was a flamboyant collection inspired from punk, glam rock and put through an avant-garde lens. Some notable artists that used the look throughout the eighties include Bow Wow, Siouxsie Sioux and David Bowie.

PORTRAIT AND CAFE SOCIETY Vivienne Westwood searched through the 18th and 19th century for inspiration by studying the garments of that time. She popularized the corset in 1990 with the “Portrait Collection”. The paintings on the corsets were that of François Boucher, a Rococo painter from France. His paintings used classical themes and allegories. According to Vivienne Westwood, “When I arranged these fabrics, there was still something missing: somehow, the paintings themselves. I included a piece of painter’s canvas; and then I knew I just had to have a photographic print of a painting. I chose the most decorative painter–Boucher –and the most typical of his paintings in the Wallace Museum is the 'Shepherd Watching a Sleeping Shepherdess.' I wanted her to look as if she’d just stepped out of a painting.” ACTIVISM AND ENVIRONMENTALISM Vivienne Westwood has a passionate stance on overconsumption and climate change. She made a collection named “Pack of Cards”, an activist campaign of graphics made over the years. Vivienne Westwood has also donated £300,000 to the Green Party. In 2012 during the London Paralympics she launched a “Climate Revolution” campaign to bring light to the issue. In 2011, she traveled to Africa for her Ethical Fashion Africa campaign where women made clothes sustainably. Vivienne Westwood uses her clothing and brand as a creative medium to communicate her activism.

LEGACY Vivienne Westwood is an important designer defined by her rebellion, activism and creativity. She used her clothes to comment on the system and inspire activism. Vivienne Westwood is fearless and passionate for everything she stands for and is an inspiration to designers to follow their own rules and stay true to what they believe in.

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Vivienne Westwood Graphic Campaign. Pack of Cards, 2012.