VIVIENNE WESTWOOD AT 80

BY: Andy Shoulders

“I have always combined fashion with activism: the one helps the other.  Maybe fashion can stop war.”

Legendary fashion icon Vivienne Westwood turned 80 years old on April 8, and to say she’s had a storied career doesn’t even begin to describe it.

 

One of the original architects of the punk fashion era of the 1970s, Westwood became known after she and partner Malcolm McLaren opened their punk boutique SEX in London.  McLaren was managing the punk band The Sex Pistols at the time, and Westwood & McLaren rose to fame as the band began wearing their designs.  The SEX boutique became a hub for early members of the punk scene, which gave Westwood the ability to get her fashions, as well as her strong political messages, on more and more bodies.

 

 

As the years went on, Westwood’s punk mentality always remained, but the fashions themselves morphed and adapted to the message that Westwood wanted to send at the time.  For instance, during much of the 1980s, Westwood’s heroes shifted from punks to “Tatler girls,” who were known for wearing clothes that parodied the upper class (again – the punk anti-establishment idea remained; the aesthetic is what changed).  It was during this time that we began to see the Petrushka-inspired “mini-crini”: the ballerina/punk hybrid skirt that would eventually become synonymous with the Westwood brand.  This iconic skirt represented two conflicting ideals that Westwood loved to play with:  the classic restrictiveness of the crinoline material paired with the liberating silhouette of a short skirt.

 

Westwood’s pretty/punk attitude continued its influence through the years both in the fashion world as well as Hollywood.  Her aesthetic was an obvious inspiration for Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B. label, and for a time, Stefani herself all but uniformed herself in Westwood’s creations.  One of Westwood’s biggest Hollywood moments came when Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw selected her gorgeous and over-the-top wedding dress out of several designers’ creations for her wedding to Mr. Big in 2008’s Sex and the City film.

 

It’s common fact that Vivienne Westwood changed the face of fashion by making the union between punk and couture an acceptable one.  What many may not be aware of, however, is the strong message behind all of her designs.  Westwood has always been a fervent activist and has never shied away from conveying her ideals on a massive scale.  Perhaps the best example of this occurred when she appeared on the cover of Tatler magazine in April of 1989 dressed as Margaret Thatcher.  The caption on the cover read, “This woman was once a punk.”  Here’s the kicker, though:  the suit Westwood wore for the cover was actually intended for Thatcher herself.  It just hadn’t been delivered yet.

Westwood’s activism very much continues to this day, and for her 80th birthday, she released a short film entitled Do Not Buy A Bomb.  In the film, Westwood performs a rendition of the anti-love song “Without You,” originally performed by Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady.  Westwood’s goal in the film is to draw attention to the arms trade’s links to climate change – something Westwood has always been passionate about.  She highlights how she believes capitalism is a war economy, with war being the biggest polluter of the earth.  Of the film, Westwood put it simply:  “I have a plan to save the world.”

 

Whether Vivienne Westwood is wowing us with her amazing punk-inspired creations, or doing her best to topple the arms trade (she already famously toppled a young Naomi Campbell on the runway with her 10-inch heels in 1993, so this should be easy), she will forever remain a fashion legend.  And the fact that she’s still going strong at 80 years old?  That’s punk rock.