Vivienne Westwood: Fashion's Punk Princess

 

High fashion meets punk: her life and legacy

    Dame Vivienne Westwood is a British designer, activist, and all around icon. In 1971, Westwood opened a clothing shop in London with her partner, Malcom McLauren. Although the current popular style was hippie-influenced carrying over from the 60's, Westwood had her own take on fashion. Her early style was influenced by punk and rock style with lots of leather, zippers, and skulls. McLauren and Westwood produced a line of t-shirts with punk designs and controversial activist slogans. For this act, they were both prosecuted for the Obscene Publications Act. The first but not the last time Vivienne Westwood made a controversial activist move.

  

Miss Westwood, welcome to high fashion

    

In 1981, Westwood and McLauren collaborated to create their first runway collection that debuted in Tokyo. The collection was pirate-inspired and certainly made Westwood a talking point in the fashion scene. She went on to open multiple more stores around the country and become a household name in the world of fashion. In 1990 and 1991, Westwood won Fashion Designer of the Year, appointed by the British Fashion Council. From there, her collections only got bigger and her influence only got stronger.

Here comes the bride('s amazing dress)

    In 1992, Westwood introduced wedding dresses into her collections. Calling these creations just a wedding dress almost acts as an insult, these are gorgeous couture gowns that just so happened to be suited for a bride. The designs feature some of Westwood's staples: corsets, draping, lots of layers, but with all of this they are all perfectly brought together by that classic bridal shade of white. Each gown is a stunning silk and almost seems to drape off of a person's figure. (If I didn't make it obvious, this is my dream wedding dress.)

    Unlike many if not most other designer bridal dresses, these designed by Vivienne Westwood are accessible to those off the runway. Now take 'accessible' with a grain of salt, these dresses are in no way cheap, but most of them are under $10 grand. There are three complete collections of these wedding gowns that are still made-to-order to this day. Westwood has also been known to make custom wedding gowns, most noticeably an over the top one worn by Carrie Bradshaw in the Sex and the City movie. (Oddly styled with a giant bird on her head.)

Fashion, meet activism. Activism, meet fashion.

    You would think that her gaudy designs and gorgeous couture bridal gowns would be enough to make Vivienne Westwood an icon, well it is, but more than that Westwood has made another mark on the world through her activism. Westwood has been a major advocate to raise awareness and funds for climate change research for her entire life. With this comes her stance against over consumption, which not many people in the fashion industry will be brave enough to promote. She has also been a champion for the climate revolution campaign and is no stranger to a political protest. This, in addition to all of her contributions to the fashion industry, makes Vivienne Westwood a true icon. 

“You’ve got to invest in the world, you’ve got to read, 

you’ve got to go to art galleries, 

you’ve got to find out the names of plants. 

You’ve got to start to love the world and know about the whole genius of the human race. 

We’re amazing people.”

-Vivienne Westwood