“Buy less, choose well, make it last”
Dame Vivienne Isobel Westwood was an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. She came to public notice when she made clothes for the boutique that she and Malcolm McLaren ran on King's Road, which became known as Sex. Their ability to synchronise clothing and music shaped the 1970s UK punk scene, which included McLaren's band, the Sex Pistols. She viewed punk as a way of "seeing if one could put a spoke in the system".
Oil on Canvas 60x55 cm
Westwood was disenchanted with the direction that adoptees had taken punk in, many of them uninterested in punk's political values, viewing the style of the movement as a marketing opportunity instead of a medium for radical change; with the dissolution of the Sex Pistols, Westwood's inspiration for her eponymous line shifted instead to the 18th century. She was particularly influenced by Pirates and the Incroyables and merveilleuses a radical movement amongst nobles who had survived the French Revolution which referenced the guillotine to which many had lost family members.
Westwood opened four shops in London and eventually expanded throughout Britain and the world, selling a varied range of merchandise, some of which promoted her political causes such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, climate change and civil rights groups.
Westwood died in Clapham, London, on 29 December 2022, aged 81. Former co-leader of the Green Party MP Caroline Lucas said of Westwood: "Such a legend, a huge inspiration, brilliantly creative and always a committed activist for people and planet – my thoughts are with her family and friends – RIP."