Vivienne Westwood

British fashion designer and style icon Vivienne Westwood has died aged 81. She passed away peacefully, surrounded by her family, at her home in London on ...

The Vivienne Foundation, a not-for-profit company, founded by Westwood, her sons & granddaughter in late 2022, will officially launch next year. Westwood was an outspoken advocate for the planet, often promoting quality over quantity when it came to fashion consumption. Westwood was the only woman, the only Brit, and the only designer on his list who was not already a multi-million-dollar brand. And on Twitter, singer Boy George [wrote](https://twitter.com/boygeorge/status/1608589986663636992?s=46&t=tMddMm_UZ3Ynm0xkMkYFRA)"R.I.P. [wrote](https://www.instagram.com/p/CmxYbJzvmgW/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=), "I will forever be grateful to have been in your orbit, because to me and most, in fashion and humanity, you, Vivienne, were the sun." To the fashion world she was a beloved character who energized and pushed the boundaries of the industry until her death. In his view, she was one of the six most influential designers of the 20th century, along with Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld, Giorgio Armani, Christian Lacroix and Emanuel Ungaro. (In 1989, she was still living in an ex-council flat in South London and was "virtually bankrupt," according to Jane Mulvagh's 1998 biography, "Vivienne Westwood: An Unfashionable Life." In 1992, Westwood married an Austrian design student, Andreas Kronthaler, 25 years her junior. She twirled sans culottes for photographers after receiving her Order of the British Empire from the Queen in 1992. "It changed the way people looked," Westwood told Time magazine in 2012. Her mother worked as a weaver at local cotton mills; her father came from a family of shoemakers.

The pioneer who brought punk-inspired creations to the mainstream has died aged 81.

As well as climate change, Westwood became a vocal supporter for the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is fighting extradition to the US to face charges under the Espionage Act. I am grateful for the moments I got to share with you and Andreas." They shot to fame in 1976 wearing Westwood and McLaren's designs. The Victoria and Albert Museum, which houses some of her works, described Westwood as a "true revolutionary and rebellious force in fashion". Singer Boy George, who first met Westwood in the early 1980s, called her "great and inspiring" and "without question she is the undisputed Queen of British fashion". Westwood made her name with her controversial punk and new wave styles in the 1970s and went on to dress some of the biggest stars in fashion.

English fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, whose work popularized British punk aesthetics, died Dec. 29, 2022, in a London suburb.

As her stature grew, she seemed to transcend fashion, with her designs shown in museum collections around the world. The name Westwood became synonymous with style and attitude even as she shifted focus from year to year. But she went on to enjoy a long career highlighted by a string of triumphant runway shows in London, Paris, Milan and New York.

Vivienne Westwood, the English fashion designer who helped to popularize punk style, has died. She was 81.

Members of bands including Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Slits were influenced by her fashion, and Viv Albertine of the Slits wrote in her memoir, “Vivienne and Malcolm use clothes to shock, irritate and provoke a reaction but also to inspire change. Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw character wore one of Westwood’s wedding dress creations in the film version of “Sex and the City.” “Vivienne Westwood died today, peacefully and surrounded by her family, in Clapham, South London,” a post on her official Twitter page reads.

Vivienne Westwood, an influential fashion maverick who played a key role in the punk movement, died Thursday at 81.

She approached her work with gusto in her early years, but over time seemed to tire of the clamor and buzz. When she wanted to sell 1950s-style clothes at her first shop, she found old clothes in markets and took them apart to understand the cut and construction. "Vivienne is gone and the world is already a less interesting place. She met McLaren in the 1960s while working as a primary school teacher after separating from her first husband, Derek Westwood. "They gave the punk movement a look, a style, and it was so radical it broke from anything in the past," he said. But Westwood was able to make the transition from punk to haute couture without missing a beat, keeping her career going without stooping to self-caricature. When asked if she regretted the swastika design in a 2009 interview with Time magazine, Westwood said no. It's very much rooted in the English tradition of pastiche and irony and satire. She dressed like a teenager even in her 60s and became an outspoken advocate of fighting global warming, warning of planetary doom if climate change was not controlled. As her stature grew, she seemed to transcend fashion, with her designs shown in museum collections throughout the world. But she went on to enjoy a long career highlighted by a string of triumphant runway shows in London, Paris, Milan and New York. The name Westwood became synonymous with style and attitude even as she shifted focus from year to year.

Westwood died Thursday "peacefully and surrounded by her family, in Clapham, South London," a post shared on her Instagram page by her brand said. "Vivienne ...

According to her brand's website, Westwood supported hundreds of causes, NGOs, grassroots charities and campaigns over the last 20 years. Next year, The Vivienne Foundation, a not-for-profit company, will officially launch to honor Westwood's life, design and activism. As part of the New Romantic movement, Westwood and McLaren staged their first ready-to-wear collection in 1981 called "Pirates," which was inspired by McLaren's fascination with the 1980 film, "The Island," and Westwood's interest in silhouettes and portraits of the 17th and 18th centuries. In the 1980s into the early '90s, Westwood transitioned into a period that she called "New Romantic" and "The Pagan Years," with clothes that parodied the upper class. Her innovation and impact over the last 60 years has been immense and will continue into the future." "Vivienne continued to do the things she loved, up until her last moment, designing, working on her art, writing her book, and changing the world for the better," according to the Instagram caption alongside a photo of Westwood.

Westwood's fashion career began in the 1970s with the punk explosion, when her radical approach to urban street style took the world by storm.

She approached her work with gusto in her early years, but over time seemed to tire of the clamor and buzz. "They gave the punk movement a look, a style, and it was so radical it broke from anything in the past," he said. But Westwood was able to make the transition from punk to haute couture without missing a beat, keeping her career going without stooping to self-caricature. She dressed like a teenager even in her 60s and became an outspoken advocate of fighting global warming, warning of planetary doom if climate change was not controlled. As her stature grew, she seemed to transcend fashion, with her designs shown in museum collections throughout the world. But she went on to enjoy a long career highlighted by a string of triumphant runway shows in London, Paris, Milan and New York.

The London shop she ran with Malcolm McLaren defined an era. “I don't think punk would have happened,” Chrissie Hynde said, “without Vivienne and Malcolm.”

Their aggressively delivered songs, with names like “Anarchy in the U.K.” and “God Save the Queen,” were a soundtrack to the nihilism of Britain in the 1970s. And I blamed the older generation for what was going on too,” she added, “so we wouldn’t even accept their taboos. “It was the hippies who taught my generation about politics, and that’s what I cared about — the world being so corrupt and mismanaged, people suffering, wars, all these terrible things.”… And the look was important.” They saw the store as a laboratory and a salon. In a memoir published in 2014 and simply called “Vivienne Westwood,” Ms. McLaren, an art school dropout who was inspired by the theater of the absurd as championed by the French Situationists, could be controversial; they once included swastikas in their designs. She was quoted in Ms. In shaping the look of the era, Ms. “It’s not about fashion, you see,” she wrote. She’s very focused on the English tradition of tailoring.” The business, which had a pink vinyl sign out front, was an unconventional one, selling fetish wear and fashions inspired by the Teddy Boy look of the 1950s.

Art, Anarchy and the Avant-Garde · Sex Pistols · Johnny Rotten in 1976 · Punk Fashions · Boy Geroge at Vivienne Westwood Tribute Event in 1998 · Paris Fashion Week ...

Westwood's fashion house announced her death on social media platforms. The influential designer played a key role in the punk movement.

When she wanted to sell 1950s-style clothes at her first shop, she found old clothes in markets and took them apart to understand the cut and construction. She approached her work with gusto in her early years, but later seemed to tire of the clamor and buzz. She even [designed the dress Stella Moris wore when she married Assange](https://apnews.com/article/europe-lifestyle-london-weddings-julian-assange-60936be569eae0d6d2f929b4a507f49d) this past March at a London prison. The rebel eventually became one of its most celebrated stars, known for reinterpreting opulent dresses from the past and often finding inspiration in 18th century paintings. When asked if she regretted the swastika in a [2009 interview with Time magazine,](https://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1871537,00.html) Westwood said no. The first, fashion photographer Ben Westwood, was her son with Derek Westwood. “Fashion can be so boring,” she told The Associated Press after unveiling one of her new collections at a 2010 show. That breakthrough is credited with taking Westwood in a more traditional direction, showing her interest in incorporating historical British designs into contemporary clothes. But still she spoke out against consumerism and conspicuous consumption, even urging people not to buy her expensive, beautifully made clothes. It’s very much rooted in the English tradition of pastiche and irony and satire. She dressed like a teenager even in her 60s and became an outspoken advocate of fighting climate change, In her punk days, Westwood’s clothes were often intentionally shocking: T-shirts decorated with drawings of naked boys and “bondage pants” with sadomasochistic overtones were standard fare in her popular London shops.

From Zendaya to Blake Lively, celebrities embraced Vivienne Westwood's designs at Hollywood events. Here are her best red carpet gowns.

The Queen of Punk had a resurgence of sorts in the last few years as Gen Z celebs embraced her designs. Born in Armenia and raised in Glendale, she studied communication, art history and sociocultural linguistics at UC Santa Barbara and journalism at Columbia University. Before joining The Times in 2022, she spent almost 10 years at Variety as a news editor.

She helped clothe the 1970s punk movement and remained a style icon for half a century.

Ms. “My fashion advice,” she told In 2008, a Westwood wedding dress became a centerpiece of the “Sex and the City” movie when Sarah Jessica Parker’s character, Carrie Bradshaw, decides against a Vera Wang dress in favor of Ms. Westwood soon dissolved her partnership with McLaren, and went on to create designs including the mini-crini, a shortened version of the Victorian crinoline, and a lightweight corset designed to be worn on the outside of an outfit, which helped spark a ’90s trend toward underwear as outerwear. The name appeared in bloated pink letters above the door. Her mother, a seamstress who made her own clothes, favored standard fare for her three children; Ms. Her marriage to Derek Westwood, a dance hall manager, ended in divorce, and in the mid-1960s she began a relationship with McLaren, with whom she collaborated as a designer. Westwood — who was later named a Dame Commander — shocked photographers by twirling to show off her outfit, a tailored skirt suit that she wore with sheer tights but no underwear. “I was messianic about punk,” she later recalled, “seeing if one could put a spoke in the system in some way.” Throughout her career she linked fashion to politics, leveraging her fame to promote environmental causes, nuclear disarmament, vegetarianism and efforts to fight climate change. Westwood grew from an enfant terrible into a grand dame of the fashion world, bursting onto the London scene in the 1970s when she helped dress punk rockers like the Sex Pistols with leather jackets, ripped shirts and safety pins. Vivienne Westwood, the provocative British fashion designer who endured for more than half a century as a style icon and environmental activist, helping clothe the 1970s punk movement before dressing supermodels on the runways of Paris and Milan, died Dec.

From Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington, to Marc Jacobs and Donatella Versace, the most moving tributes from the fashion world to Vivienne Westwood.

I will forever be grateful to have been in your orbit, because to me and most in fashion—and in humanity—you, Vivienne, were the sun. She was kind, normal, and messianic, all uniquely rolled into one visionary force who had not one jot of grandeur about her incredible standing as one of the most influential designers in the world. From the first day I met you to the last day I saw you, you made me smile, listen, learn and love more than the day before. She was one of the very greatest British women, always ahead of her time. Thereon, she heroically devoted herself to standing up for civilized critical and radical thinking, constantly using her position in fashion to speak out about the urgency of environmental destruction. Thank you, Vivienne, for staying so true to your principles and values and most importantly, for leading the way with spunk and with humor.” This talented and brilliant lady was so unique and so punk in all the ways punk should be. Vivienne invented historic fashion design moments that woke us all up and shook the industry to its core. Vivienne once faxed me a handwritten letter inviting me to participate in one of her shows, as one did in the early ’90s. To be able to visit with you recently I feel blessed and will carry that memory in my heart always. You never failed to surprise and to shock. And your beautiful love story with Andreas, one we’d read about in fairy tales, that I was able to witness for decades.