In honour of the late Vivienne Westwood, we take a look back at 7 of her most remarkable collections, both from her Gold Label – reserved for custom-made and couture pieces – and Red Label – her ready-to-wear line.
vivienne westwood
Dame Vivienne Westwood; the godmother to punk, a rebel never without a cause, an activist in every sense of the word, and a fashion trailblazer. Today marks two years since the designer’s passing, leaving behind an undying legacy, in part thanks to her partner Andreas Kronthraler, who continues to show seasonally for the brand under the apt moniker “Andreas Kronthraler for Vivienne Westwood,” and in part due to the longevity of her ideologies and design principles.
Autumn/Winter 1993, “Anglomania”
Arguably, “Anglomania” was Westwood’s most remembered collection – and not solely for the fact that the combination of slippy tights and platform heels made Naomi Campbell fall flat onto the runway. The collection is an insight into the mind of the designer, turning to British history, specifically Scottish, for inspiration. In fact, Westwood produced her own tartan for the collection, as well as creating her own clan entitled “MacAndreas,” which was officially recognised by the Lochcarron of Scotland the same year (a feat considering a recognition of this sort usually takes some 200 years).
Autumn/Winter 1981, “Pirate”
Westwood’s first runway collection co-produced with Malcolm McLaren, her partner at the time, “Pirate” took the designer from a London punk icon to Fashion Week rising starlet. But that didn’t mean Westwood gave the keys in for her King’s Road store. In fact, the collection was birthed in synergy of the newly renamed “World’s End,” which was staged as a galleon of sorts, as well as an enormous 13-figured clock which turned anti-clockwise.
Spring/Summer 1994, “Café Society”
Westwood’s provocative nature is perhaps most famously embodied by a topless and powdered-face Kate Moss eating a Magnum ice cream on the runway – a photo that crops back up on our feeds every other month. The “Café Society” collection was a turning point in Westwood’s career. Inspired by 19th century French haute société, which was not only evident in the hair, makeup and decadent fashion, as well as the original couturier Charles Worth, Westwood and her cast of golden girls (which included Moss as well as Naomi Campbel, Christy Turlington, Helena Christensen, Nadja Auermann, and Yasmin le Bon) served up a large portion of on-runway eroticism, a move which irritated the press at the time.
Spring/Summer 1991, “Cut, Slash & Pull”
Set during a time where the norm saw models smoking on the runway, the “Cut, Slash & Pull” collection played with that very idea that racks every designers’ brain. What choices do we make when we dress up? What do we want to signal with our outfit? Which pieces express our complex identity or mood of the day? The answer to the latter in Westwood’s case lies somewhere in between silky button-up trench and an emblematic orb-stitched white towel wrapped around the torso.
Autumn/Winter 2005, “Propaganda”
By the turn of the millenia, Westwood focused much of her energy on protesting against climate change, without, however, compromising her position in fashion. “Propaganda” was the lovechild of these two seemingly opposite pulls, where military-inspired outerwear highlighted the battle to fight and slung slogan sashes drilled in the manifesto proposed by Westwood.
Autumn/Winter 2009, “+5°”
To the untrained eye, the longstanding friendship between Pamela Anderson and Westwood might seem mismatched. But to the girls that get it… Both women often came together, in support of each other and in support of a higher cause (in this case, fighting climate change). For the “+5°” show, Anderson made a surprise runway appearance with an up-angled tutu skirt that resembled angelic wings, a draped burgundy top and football-style knee-high socks, while having her arms restrained behind her back.
Autumn/Winter 2015, “Unisex: Time To Act”
A true celebration of gender and the spectrum it lies on, Westwood’s “Unisex: Tim To Act” collection saw men in tight corsets and women in oversized pin-striped suits, down to the final bride and groom look. What to most seemed like a Freaky Friday episode was to Westwood a design hill to surmount; how had history worked within the confines of the male and female figure, and how was she going to challenge it? Her press release revealed the answers: “Study the past. There’s a hint of it in the future.”
Words – Juliette Eleuterio