Vivienne Westwood
()
Who Is Vivienne Westwood?
Considered one of the most unconventional and outspoken fashion designers in the world, Vivienne Westwood rose to fame in the late s when her early designs helped shape the look of the punk rock movement.
Early Years
Born Vivienne Isabel Swire on April 8, , in the English town of Glossop in Derbyshire, Westwood came from humble beginnings. Her father was a cobbler, while her mother helped the family keep ends meet by working at a local cotton mill.
At the age of 17, Westwood's family moved to Harrow in the country of Middlesex, where the future fashion icon found work at a local factory and eventually enrolled at a teacher training school.
As Westwood would later recall, her childhood years were far from London's high life. "I lived in a part of the country that had grown up in the Industrial Revolution," she once said. "I didn't know about art galleries…I'd never seen an art book, never been to the theatre."
By the early s Westwood's life seemed established. She'd married Derek Westwood, with whom she had son, Ben, and embarked on work as a teacher. Then, however, everything changed. Her first marria
Celebrating Vivienne Westwood (–)
Vivienne Westwood was one of the most significant cultural forces in post-war fashion. Beginning in the mids, as she told the BBC’s Sue Lawley in a episode of Desert Island Discs, she and her partner Malcolm McLaren made ‘a fantastic and heroic attempt to understand whether there was such a thing as an establishment, like a door that you could almost kick’. McLaren’s savvy taste for spectacle married with Westwood’s provocative clothing, which repurposed pornographic imagery and fetish attire in traditional materials, such as tartan and wool. Though she propagated the imagery and attitude that would come to be known as ‘punk’, she was also one of the first to depart from the movement.
Transforming her namesake fashion house into a global brand, she would go on to be named British designer of the year in and ’91, influencing countless artists and creators in outlook and output. In more recent years, her attention turned towards a matter that squarely implicates the fashion industry: the future of the planet. She was a relentless star whose innovation and irreverence taught generations how to dress and behave as though they belonged,
British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, who brought punk style to global attention, died on December 29 in South London at the age of eighty-one. News of her death was announced by her eponymous company, which did not specify a cause. Westwood with impresario Malcolm McLaren in opened the boutique that would eventually be called SEX on London’s King’s Road, where she sold her clothing, shocking at the time for incorporating safety pins and purposeful rips. Viv Albertine, of seminal punk band the Slits, described them in her memoir as “mohair jumpers, knitted on big needles, so loosely that you can see all the way through them, T-shirts slashed and written on by hand, seams and labels on the outside, showing the construction of the piece.” Albertine noted that Westwood and McLaren’s fashions reflected the attitude of the music she and her compatriots were making: “It’s OK to not be perfect, to show the workings of your life and your mind in your songs and your clothes.” “There was no punk before me and Malcolm,” Westwood noted in her own biography. “And the other thing you should know a
Dame Vivienne Westwood was a British fashion designer and businesswoman who was renowned for pioneering punk and new-wave fashion. She is widely considered one of the most legendary and boundary-pushing fashion designers to date. Westwood rose to fame in the late s when her early designs helped construct the punk subculture. Born Vivienne Isabel Swire on April 8, , in the English town of Glossop in Derbyshire, Westwood came from a modest background. At the age of 17, Westwood's family moved to Harrow where the future star worked at a local factory, subsequently enrolling at a teacher training school. She married Derek Westwood at age 21, with whom she had son, Ben, and continued to work as a teacher. The marriage dissolved and she met Sex Pistols manager and fellow punk pioneer Malcolm Mclaren. The designer is one of the most iconic and referenced in history, and the story of how she began her namesake label is steeped in cultural importance. Influenced by acts of rebellion and typical s clothing, music, and memorabilia, a young Vivienne Westwood and her then partner Malcolm McLaren (ma
Dorji wangmo wangchuck biography of michael jackson Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck (Dzongkha: རྡོ་རྗེ་དབང་མོ་དབང་ཕྱུག་, Wylie: Rdo-rje Dbang-mo Dbang-phyug; born 10 June ) is the Queen Mother (Gyalyum Kude) of Bhutan, and first wife of . Aarti singh biography of george michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June – 25 December ) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time and was named one of the greatest singers of all time by Rolling Stone. Michael See more. Minoru yamasaki biography of michael Minoru Yamasaki, a Japanese American architect, is renowned for his design of the original World Trade Center in New York City and several other large-scale projects. He is regarded as one . Purvi bhave biography of michael jackson Michael Jackson was more than a singer and dancer; he was a trailblazer. His talent and vision revolutionized music, leaving a lasting mark on popular culture. Despite personal Missing: purvi bhave. Michael jordans wife yvette prieto biography Yvette Prieto and Michael Jordan. In , Yvette and Michael Jordan met at a dancing club. The two met six-time at a nightclub and started seeing each other. Eventually, . Ayanda ntsaluba biography of michael jordan Learn all about Michael Jordan’s life and career in this illustrated gift book! Filled with all the iconic hallmarks of a Who HQ title, sports fans will have a chance to learn new things about their Missing: ayanda ntsaluba.
Vivienne Westwood (–)
Vivienne Westwood - Biography
Vivienne Westwood and the rise of punk
Biographies you may also like