VIVIENNE WESTWOOD*

Vivienne Westwood is one of the most influential and recognisable
British designers of the past 20 years.

On April 8, 1941,Vivienne Swire was born in Derbyshire, England.
Her father was a shoemaker and her mother a cotton weaver.

When she was 16, her family moved to London and Vivienne attended the Harrow School of Art.
After spending just one term there, she left to become a primary school teacher. After that She met her first husband Derek Westwood in 1962 and married him.

In the early 1970s, Vivienne Westwood was married to rock-and-roll entrepreneur Malcolm McLaren, who managed the Sex Pistols.

In 1971. she started up a shop called "Let it Rock" on Londons trendy Kings Road. Let it Rock sold primarily 1950s inspired rockabilly fashions.And
spent all night stitching rock-inspired clothes, visiting punk clubs and grunge bars.

At the time when the hippy movement was in full swing and Rock 'n' Roll was not even played on the radio, they sold Fifies Rock 'n' Roll records and memorabilia as well as stock of Fifties inspired designs.

Young people came to the shop from all over the country fuelling a revival of the period as Elvis Presley was making a comeback

Elvis Presley ---> The king of Rock n' Roll !!


In the mid 1970s, McLaren and Westwood became interested in selling pornographically printed T-shirts and garments with sexual slogans printed on them and changed their shop’s name to SEX.

In 1977 they changed the name of their boutique to "Seditionaries" and sold garments with a bondage look made of leather.

In 1980 there was another change of name to "Worlds End" and Vivienne introduced her Pirate collection, including frilly shirts and romantic swashbuckling styles. It was very successful .

In 1981, Westwood had her first catwalk show that featured the memorable “pirate collection.” The pirate collection made another impression on pop culture in the United Kingdom by influencing the New Romantic fashion movement of the early 1980s.

In 1983 She gave a fashion show in Paris, the first British designer to do so since Mary Quant in the 60s. People remember it as one of the best shows ever, but chic Parisiennes were horrified by the riotous behaviour and punky London garments. The collection was called "Punkature".

In 1990, by now more concerned with haute couture than streetstyle, Westwood launched a menswear collection in Florence.

In the same year, she was named British Designer of the Year, a feat she repeated in 1991. The following December, she was awarded an OBE in recognition of her services to British fashion.

In1998 she won the Queen's Export Award.

In 2000 Vivienne Westwood has become the "old lady of fashion" not yet completely respectable, but yet respected.

Viviennes Spring 2002 collection "Fairy Tales" showed pale woodland nymphs in natural muted tones, flowers and brambles with skirts bunched, ruched and drapes. Heavy cottons and suede skirts were worn with cherry leather aprons and sexy nymphs wore handcrafted crochet dresses in black and white, floating at the knee. ........