She merged fashion and punk and was well known for her flamboyant attire and controversial T-shirt messages.
The British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood passed away at age 81.
Her family announced her death in an Instagram post stating, “Vivienne Westwood passed away today, peacefully and with her family in Clapham, South London.”
Until the very end, Vivienne continued to do the things she loved, including designing, creating art, writing a book, and improving the world.
With her avant-garde interpretation of the urban street style, Westwood achieved fame in the fashion industry in the 1970s.
She is regarded as a punk fashion industry pioneer and was well-known for her outrageous attire.
She co-owned a store on London’s King’s Road with Malcolm McLaren, the Sex Pistols manager. After that, she created a global fashion company with shops in the USA, Asia, France, the UK, and other countries.
Despite her inconsistent taste, her last name has been synonymous with style. It was impossible to guess what Westwood might produce next. Her orange-dyed hair became her signature. Later in her life, Westwood used her fame to promote environmental protection.
Who was Vivienne Westwood?
Since the 1970s, the British designer has been well-known for her irreverent stance toward the status quo in the fashion world.
The Instagram post that announced her death stated that Dame Vivienne passed away in Clapham, south London, “peacefully and surrounded by her family.”
She is survived by her two sons, photographer Ben Westwood and Agent Provocateur founder Joseph Corré, and her Austrian co-designer husband, Andreas Kronthaler.
In a statement, her husband, Kronthaler, said: “She provided me a lot of ideas to continue with and to finish the work we started together.” “Thank you, sweetheart.”
She died doing the things she loved.
Westwood’s official Instagram account states, “Vivienne died doing the things she loved up until the very end.”
“Design, pursue her artistic endeavors, pen a book, and alter the course of history.”
She had a remarkable life. “Over the past 60 years, her innovations and influence have been enormous and will remain so in the future.”
Westwood was ambivalent about everything, including British traditions. Although British, she registered her check pattern and created punk fashion. Her name represented English eccentricity.
For Vivienne Westwood, it was always a little odd being the daughter of a cotton spinner and a grocery store owner from the English county of Derbyshire.
On April 8, 1941, Vivienne Isabel Swire was born.
She is credited with even changing the look of her school clothing. She originally intended to become a writer but changed her mind and enrolled in teacher training programs. She advocated for animals and the environment all her life, and even in her advanced age, she rarely missed a significant humanitarian protest in the United Kingdom.
Offering cake to Assange.
The cake on her face supported Julian Assange. She sat in a giant birdcage outside a London courthouse in a bright yellow dress. She was unfit for luxury.
At age 21, she married skilled dancer Derek Westwood.
However, she later fell in love with Malcolm McLaren, an art student.
McLaren founded the punk band Sex Pistols, which he also managed.
In 1970, she co-founded her first store with McLaren on London’s King’s Road. The store became an undisputed trendsetter very soon.
Punk rock fashion pioneer Westwood started the pirate style with McLaren, designed the Sado-Maso clothes for the “Sex Pistols” performers, and made and sold sequin suits for Teddy Boys (Teds).
She and McLaren parted ways in 1983. Westwood consistently drew attention to herself with her eccentric creations and stayed faithful to her rebellious inventiveness.
Her propensity for rediscovering apparel from the 18th and 19th centuries through the works of French, English, and Dutch artists and adapting it to modernism was occasionally mocked. Still, it frequently served as an inspiration for the industry’s greats to develop similar concepts.
She was no longer regarded as an outsider in the fashion industry but a trailblazer, even though her creations were sometimes described as “shrill, weird, and unusual.” The fact that she received two votes for “Fashion Designer of the Year” shows how seriously she was regarded back in the 1990s.
Fall of Naomi Campbell into Westwood’s shoes.
Westwood debuted her first ready-made apparel line in 1992 in Paris, and the following year, model Naomi Campbell fell on the catwalk while wearing a pair of 10-inch platform heels from that collection.
Westwood first put models dressed in haute couture on the catwalk in the fall of 1994. She was already one of the six most significant fashion designers in the world at the time, according to the fashion publication “Women’s Wear Daily.”
Westwood struggled to meet the demand for the €7,500 silk and satin dream worn by Sarah Jessica Parker’s character Carrie Bradshaw in the Sex and the City film because the dress became extremely popular after the movie debuted.
Royal patrons and distinctions
Princess Eugenie of Windsor and Duchess Camilla are among Westwood’s clients, in addition to Cameron Diaz and Marion Cotillard. The Queen acknowledged Westwood’s contributions even if she didn’t use her as a fashion model.
Vivienne Westwood was inducted into the Order of the British Empire in 1992, and the Queen elevated her to a lady’s title 14 years later.
She failed to succeed as the royals’ court clothes designer, though. She advised Duchess Kate, a style icon, to wear less clothing to conserve the environment.