Vivienne Isabel Swire

was born in Glossop, Derbyshire, in 1941.

Although she made her own clothes and ex-
perimented with her looks from an early age
she had little access to the high culture of art
galleries, art books and theatre which was to
inform her later career. At the age of 16 she
moved with her family from northern England
to Harrow, Middlesex, where she embarked on
a silversmithing and jewellery-making course
at Harrow School of Art. Impatient to earn
a wage, however, she left Harrow abruptly,
completed a typing course and found a job as
a secretary. It was not until her mid-thirties
that Westwood returned to fashion, by which
time she had started work as a primary school
teacher, married her first husband, Derek

Vivienne
Westwood, and had her first child, Ben.

In 1965 Westwood met Malcolm McLaren, with whom she had a second son,
Joseph (who owns and runs the underwear label Agent Provocateur) and who retrig-
gered her interest in fashion and experimentation with her image. McLaren, a dynamic
and radical character whom Westwood regarded as “fascinating and mad”, introduced
her to a plethora of new political and artistic ideas which continue to influence her
work today. Their partnership flourished both professionally and as a romance: McLar-
en had his finger on the pulse of contemporary culture and Westwood the creative flare
to translate his ideas into clothing.
VIVIENNE
WESTWOOD
(1941-) personifies the potent and
subversive originality of British fashion.
Her continual exploration and reinterpreta-
tion of history, combined with a tireless in-
dividualism, has cemented her reputation as
the UK’s most culturally significant fashion
designer. Her expansive body of work traces
the socio-economic and cultural climate
of Britain over the past four decades, and
a cursory glance through her archive also
highlights the paradox of her career: an as-
cent from teenage rebellion through luxury
and decadence to global commercial success.

Westwood
The continually evolving vi-
sion of Westwood and McLaren was
brought to a wider public in 1971 when
they took over a now legendary shop at
430 Kings Road, London. The site was
a work-in-progress with a frequently
changing name and merchandise that
switched style continually as it reflected
and launched London’s subcultural cur-
rents. The first incarnation, Let it Rock,
modelled itself on the 1950’s Teddy-boy
aesthetic. In 1973 Let it Rock ceded to
Too Fast to Live Too Young to Die in
tribute to James Dean’s untimely death,
and stocked fetish wear previously only
available by mail order.
Westwood and McLaren’s ambi-
tion to bring the dark world of sexual
adventure and fetish to the streets of
London was made explicit when they
re-branded the shop SEX in 1975. SEX
(later named Seditionaries) became syn-
onymous with the most culturally sig-
nificant street style of the second half of
the 20th century, Punk. It was famous
for its sexually crude and evocative gar-
ments: “bondage” trousers and T-shirts
emblazoned with provocative phrases like
“Cambridge Rapist” and “Paedophilia”
which caused controversy and outrage in
the mainstream of British society. One
particular T-shirt, “Two Naked Cow-
boys”, got their friend, the artist Alan
Jones, arrested; while McLaren’s newly
formed Punk band, the Sex Pistols, were
a highly effective promotional vehicle for
the shop and its owners’ ethos.
As Punk gradually began In Italy, however, her work was hailed with rever-
ence, and financial backing from business mogul Carlo
to influence the mainstream,
the couple looked towards D’Amario was secured.
romanticism, heroism even, in By 1983, with a second London shop, Nostal-
fashion design. Westwood had gia of Mud, the business ran into financial difficulties.
dressed the Punks; now her Westwood broke ties with McLaren and continued to
Pirates collection (1979-1981) work from Italy with D’Amario who was now a lover as
was adopted by musicians well as a business partner. D’Amario successfully ne-
labelled the New Romantics. gotiated a business deal with Armani which, alongside
This work brought to the substantial financial backing, produced and marketed
fore the habit for which she Westwood’s label. No longer constrained by McLaren’s
is renowned: raiding history vision, Westwood turned the subcultural inspiration of
for ideas. Adam and the Ants the street into a deeper relationship with historicism.
and Spandau Ballet wore bil-
lowing, lavishly printed gold,
red and orange shirts inspired
by Westwood’s study of 18th
Century men’s clothing but
flamboyantly fused with
North American Indian and
pirate styles. The collection
released a rakish and androgy-
nous sexual overtone that took
1980’s Britain by surprise and
was available for sale in the
shop newly (and still) named
World’s End.
In 1981 Westwood and
McLaren consolidated the
Pirates collection, which had
been evolving organically in
the shop, and launched it on
the catwalk in London. This
was Westwood’s first foray into
the arena of established fash-
ion.
Although her work had fea-
tured in i-D and The Face,
the UK’s leading street style
bibles, Westwood continued to
struggle for recognition in the
mainstream press.
It was during this time that Westwood
pioneered “underwear-as-outwear”, in col-
lections that revelled in the corset and the
crinoline.
Supported by meticulous research,
the Mini-Crini collection of 1986 featured
shortened 19th century-style crinolines
with Minnie-Mouse prints, polka dots and
stars and stripes worn with rocking-horse
platform shoes. In a period when other
designers empowered women with shoul-
der pads, Westwood placed the emphasis
firmly on the hips. This collection exag-
gerated the feminine forms and accents
of historical clothing to create a sexually-
charged vision that was outrageous and
almost absurd.
Ten years later the sexually confrontational
Vive la Cocotte collection of 1996, which fea-
tured large bum-cushions and padded busts,
again inspired by 19th century dress.
By 1986, Westwood’s romantic re-
lationship with D’Amario had come to an
end, as well as her partnership with Armani.
Although D’Amario continued to manage
the business, as he still does today, she moved
back to London and began to take an inter-
est in the clothes and fabrics of the British
establishment. Her Harris Tweed collection
of 1987 was named after the woollen fabric
woven in the Western Isles of Scotland and
took its inspiration from Savile Row tailors,
incorporating a variety of tweeds including
the traditional Tattershall check
and red barathea. Affectionately
parodying the establishment,
these clothes evoked the aristoc-
racy, boarding school and coun-
try houses; hunting, shooting and
fishing; and in Westwood’s in-
terpretation, inevitably declared
sexuality under the constraint of
British understatement.

Westwood was also inspired

by 18th century paintings, ce-
ramics and literature and spent
time studying the paintings of
the Wallace Collection and the
Victoria & Albert Museum’s
archive in London. In Portrait
(1990-1), Westwood used a pho-
tographic print of Francois
Boucher’s Shepherd Watching a
Sleeping Shepherdess on corsets
and shawls. Always On Camera
(1992-3) contained the Gains-
borough Blouse which mimicked
the delicate brushstrokes of the
18th century British portraitist’s
work. Her considered reinterpre-
tation of tradition came through
again in Anglomania (1993-94).
Westwood created her own clan
(the traditional extended family
and social unit of Scottish soci-
ety) and tartan (the woven wool
check identified with that unit),
MacAndreas, named after her
third husband and collaborator,
Andreas Kronthaler. That McAn-
dreas is displayed at Lochcarron
Museum of Tartan in Scotland
alongside time-honored tradi-
tional tartans is a very significant
accolade to be bestowed on a
contemporary designer.
1941 Born in Glossop, Derby-
shire, to a father who worked as a
shoe maker and a cotton weaver
mother.
1959 Moved with her mother and
father to Harrow in North London
where she briefly studied at the
Harrow School of Art.
1960 Studied to become a prima-
ry school teacher and worked in
schools around South London.
1962 Met her first husband, Derek
Westwood, at a local dance hall.
1965 Met Malcolm McLaren
and began a romantic and busi-
ness partnership with him. This
marked the beginning of her ex-
perimentation with fashion design.
1970 McLaren and Westwood
took over a shop at 430 King
Road, London, and called it “Let
it Rock”. The shop sold 1950’s
Teddy-boy clothing.
1972 The shop became known as
“Too Fast to Live, Too Young to
Die” and sold second-hand jeans,
customised leather jackets and
“Dominator” and “Triumph” T-
shirts.
1974 Once again renamed the
shop “Sex”, became a mecca for
the “Sex Pistols” and the punk-
rock generation.
1976 The shop is branded “Sedi-
tionaries” – sexual fetish clothing.
1977 Met Canadian painter, Gary
Ness, who introduced her to litera-
ture, painting, and classical music.
1981 Westwood designed her first
collection, “Pirates”. 450 Kings
Road is renamed “World’s End”
and remains so to this day.
1982 Westwood and McLaren open a
second shop, “Nostalgia of Mud”, in St
Christopher’s Place, London and shows her
collection of the same name in Paris, the
first English designer to do so since Mary
Quant.
1983 Met Carlo D’Amario, her current
manager and one-time lover.
1984 “Nostalgia of Mud” shop closed
due to financial problems. Moved to Italy,
with business partner D’Amario and de-
signed “Hypnos” at his house in the Alps.
“Hypnos” was subsequently shown at
Hanae Mori’s “Best of Five” global fashion
awards.
1985 “Mini-Crini” collection designed and
shown at the Cour du Louvre, Paris, and
the Limelight nightclub, New York.
1986 Westwood returns to live in London.
1987 Designs “Harris Tweed” collection
inspired by the clothes of the British estab-
lishment.
1988 Opens a second London shop in May-
fair.
1990 Awarded Fashion Designer of the
Year by the British Fashion Council.
1991 Designs “Slash and Cut” menswear
collection. Awarded Fashion Designer
of the Year for the second year running.
Shows designs at the Tokyo Fashion Sum-
mit alongside Christian Lacroix.
1992 Awarded an O.B.E. as well as being
made an Honorary Senior Fellow at the
Royal College of Art. Opens a shop at 43
Conduit Street, introduces wedding gowns
to her collections and creates a watch for
Swatch, called “Putti”.
1993 Commissions her own tartan, “Mac
Andreas” (after her husband) for the “An-
glomania” collection. Designs ‘Orb’ for
Swatch.
1994 Wins the first Institute of Con-
temporary Art Award for Outstanding
Contribution to Contemporary Culture.
Marks the founding in 1783 of the carpet
company Britons by designing Ancien
Régime costumes in carpet.
1995 Designs “Vive la Cocotte”, a collec-
tion that reworks the ideas from her last
five collections; it particularly emphasis-
es the interchange of fashion influences
between France and England.
1996 Launches “Man”, her menswear
label, in Milan. Designs all the costumes
for the production of The Three Penny
Opera by Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill,
performed at the Burgtheater, Vienna.
1998 Launches “Boudoir”, her debut
fragrance. Awarded the Queen’s Award
for Export in recognition of the com-
pany’s growing export market.
1999 Launches the Red Label in the
United States to coincide with the open-
ing of her first shop in New York. Intro-
duces accessories lines, such as the Eye-
wear collection.
2000 The Museum of London holds the
exhibition “Vivienne Westwood: the col-
lection of Romilly McAlpine”.
2002 Opens a shop in Hong Kong.
2003 Awarded the UK Fashion Export
Award for Design. Opens a shop in Milan
and Liverpool.
2004 Vivienne Westwood retrospective
opens at the Victoria and Albert Mu-
seum, London.
2005 Joins the board of trustees for Lib-
erty and designs a T-shirt in defence of
liberty and human rights.
2006 Made Dame Vivienne Westwood.
The “Anglomania” exhibition is held at
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York.
 2007 Presented with a Life-
time Achievement prize at
the British Fashion Awards.
Launches her manifesto,
“Active Resistence”.

2008 Returned to London

Fashion Week to show her
Red Label collection.

Today, Westwood’s a global

empire comprises the semi-
couture line Gold Label, a
ready-to-wear line Red Label,
Vivienne Westwood Man and
the diffusion line Anglomania.
She has perfumes – Boudoir,
launched in 1998 and Liber-
tine, launched in 2000 – as
well as successful ranges of
knitwear and accessories.
British Designer of the Year
twice, in 1990 and 1991, hon-
oured with the Order of the
British Empire in 1992 and
made Dame Vivienne West-
wood in 2006, she has drawn
uncommonly wide acclaim
from the extremes of the
street and the establishment.
W hether she is ridi-
culing the ruling classes,
shocking the public or
overtly sexualising wom-
en, Westwood continues
to sustain the ultimate
design contradiction:
producing the unexpected
while defining the spirit
of the decade.