Legendary dressmaker and activist Vivienne Westwood has died

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Legendary dressmaker and activist Vivienne Westwood has died

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Legendary British dressmaker and activist Vivienne Westwood died at this time (December 29) on the age of 81, it has been confirmed.

“Vivienne Westwood died today, peacefully and surrounded by her family, in Clapham, South London,” a message posted on her official Twitter web page learn. “The world needs people like Vivienne to make a change for the better.”

In an announcement emailed to press, Westwood’s husband and inventive accomplice Andreas Kronthaler mentioned: “I will continue with Vivienne in my heart. We have been working until the end and she has given me plenty of things to get on with.”

Westwood was an integral a part of the British punk motion within the Seventies, serving to to form the scene along with her clothes. Early in her profession, she made garments for SEX, the Chelsea boutique she ran with Malcolm McLaren. SEX was later renamed Seditionaries: Clothes for Heroes and Westwood and went on to decorate Sex Pistols, whom McLaren managed.

Punk icon Jordan, who died earlier this yr, labored as a mannequin for Westwood and managed the store, whereas the likes of Siouxsie And The Banshees and Adam And The Ants musician Marco Pirroni, singer-songwriter and formative punk determine Gene October, and extra additionally frequented the shop.

Among her signature seems to be on the time – a lot of which appeared in her designs once more over the many years – had been ripped t-shirts, bondage, plaid patterns, mohair, rubber, provocative imagery and security pin gildings. Westwood helped convey punk trend into the mainstream however maintained the rebellious angle that ran by means of her early designs all through her life.

Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols in 1978 CREDIT: Richard E. Aaron/Redferns

In the early ‘80s, Westwood launched her own brand, designing clothes which continued to subvert conformist society’s expectations. One of her first collections, launched in 1985, featured a “mini-crini” – a crinoline blended with a mini skirt to focus on the then-growing liberation of girls’s sexuality.

Over her profession, the icon did the whole lot from designing tutorial attire for London’s King’s College and redesign uniforms for Virgin Atlantic flight crews. Her clothes have been worn by everybody from punks to royalty, fashions to Okay-pop stars and even sport characters – within the 2016 sport Final Fantasy XV, Lunafreya Nox Fleuret wore a marriage costume designed by Westwood.

Her designs additionally appeared within the 2008 Sex And The City film, with Westwood designing a marriage costume for Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw. However, the designer was essential of the style that appeared within the movie, saying: “I thought Sex And The City was supposed to be about cutting-edge fashion and there was nothing remotely memorable or interesting about what I saw.”

In latest years, the designer grew to become a distinguished local weather change activist, creating the Climate Revolution in 2012. She unveiled the initiative on the London Paralympics closing ceremony that yr.

Vivienne Westwood
Vivienne Westwood CREDIT: Ki Price/Getty Images

“Capitalism is as corrupt as a rotten apple,” a manifesto Westwood wrote as a part of the Climate Revolution learn. “It’s the economy, stupid! U accept because u think there’s no alternative. But we have hope (war is fought 4 land + cheap labour). Change the economy – NO MAN’S LAND. Start by renting use of land, ocean + air – target: sustainability + peace.”

Westwood additionally dedicated her trend home to lowering its contributions to local weather change. In 2020, her spring/summer time assortment featured garments fabricated from natural cotton and pure flax, with thread that had been sourced from bushes grown in managed forests.

Throughout the years, Westwood remained an outspoken voice for points she believed in. IN 2005, she teamed up with the civil rights group Liberty to create a set of t-shirts and child put on with the slogan: “AM NOT A TERRORIST, please don’t arrest me.” The designer mentioned the marketing campaign defended habeas corpus.

She has additionally campaigned for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), devoted a trend assortment to activist and whistleblower Chelsea Manning, and used her 2012 London Fashion Week reveals to help Julian Assange and name for his launch. In 2020, she protested his potential extradition to the US exterior the Old Bailey, suspending herself in an enormous birdcage exterior the court docket.

“I am Julian Assange,” Westwood instructed the group gathered beneath her. “I am the canary in the cage. If I die down the coal mine from poisonous gas, that’s the signal for all the miners to leave. But I am half-poisoned already from government corruption of law and gaming of the legal system by government.”

Vivienne Westwood
Vivienne Westwood protesting Julian Assange’s potential extradition in 2020 CREDIT: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

Earlier this yr, Westwood premiered the documentary Wake Up Punk, which charted the decline of punk by means of interviews with the designer and her two sons, Ben Westwood and Joe Corré.

Speaking to NME on the premiere, Westwood declared Oasis “derivative” however praised Billie Eilish and Courtney Love. “I’m going to be talking at Billie Eilish’s [upcoming six-day London climate event], which is really great,” she mentioned.

“From what I know of her, I think she’s great. I just heard a bit of her voice and it sounds terrific. Oh and I was doing a photoshoot yesterday with Courtney Love. I’d never listened to her sing before but my husband [designer] Andreas [Kronthaler] said, ‘She’s really good that woman, really great’, so I had a listen too.”

On punk, she added: “The thing about punk was that it was an amazing look. It was probably the most glamorous fashion that’s ever existed and I think that’s what we have to really remember. It was just outrageously brilliant and that’s that.”

Stars from throughout the leisure world have begun to pay tribute to Westwood following her dying. “you gave me the courage to express myself,” Yungblud wrote on Twitter. “you were the reason i left the house with the confidence to look the way i did. heartbroken. thankyou for everythin, viv. RIP.”

Garbage’s Shirley Manson known as the style icon “a hero of mine”, whereas The Pogues’ Spider Stacy mentioned he had “no words” following the information.

See extra tributes under.

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