7 belongings you in all probability did not learn about punk style icon Vivienne Westwood
Scotland

Vivienne Westwood in 2014.REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett

  • Dame Vivienne Westwood died on December 29, 2022, on the age of 81.

  • Westwood was one of the vital iconic designers in British historical past, and he or she was a punk icon.

  • She famously skipped underwear when she met the royal household, two separate instances.

Vivienne Westwood was a schoolteacher earlier than she grew to become a profitable designer.

Dame Vivienne Westwood attends the Vivienne Westwood AW20/21 presentation and exhibition during London Fashion Week February 2020 at The Serpentine Gallery on February 13, 2020 in London, England. (

Dame Vivienne Westwood in 2020.Picture by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Photos

Westwood grew up simply outdoors of Glossop in Derbyshire, England. She studied on the Harrow College of Artwork and the College of Westminster, based on The Enterprise of Style. She lasted for one semester, learning style and silver-smithing, earlier than dropping out to deal with work.

“I did not understand how a working-class lady like me might probably make a dwelling within the artwork world,” she reportedly mentioned.

As an alternative, she grew to become an elementary faculty trainer and designed jewellery in her free time. By the Seventies, she was making a dwelling promoting her designs.

She died on Thursday, aged 81. In a Twitter assertion, Westwood’s reps mentioned she handed away “peacefully and surrounded by her household” in Clapham, South London.

“The world wants folks like Vivienne to make a change for the higher,” the assertion mentioned.

She skipped out on underwear whereas assembly the royal household — twice.

Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood at Buckingham Palace, in London, where she received her OBE from Queen Elizabeth II.

Dressmaker Vivienne Westwood at Buckingham Palace.Martin Keene/PA Photos/Getty Photos

In 1992, Westwood was invited to Buckingham Palace when she was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for her companies to the style business. In the course of the go to, she made headlines when she spun for the cameras outdoors the palace and revealed she wasn’t sporting any underwear.

“I met a person who labored with the Queen and he mentioned she was quite amused by it,” Westwood mentioned, the Each day Mail reported in 2006.

When she returned in 2006 to turn into a dame, she as soon as once more went commando.

“Do not ask,” she mentioned, based on the Each day Mail. “It is the identical reply. I do not put on them with attire. After I’m sporting trousers I’d — my husband’s silk boxers.”

Her son is Joseph Corré, the founding father of lingerie model Agent Provocateur.

Vivienne Westwood and Joseph Corré

Vivienne Westwood and Joseph Corré in 2022.Joe Maher/Getty Photos

Agent Provocateur is without doubt one of the most well-known lingerie manufacturers on the planet, and it was based by Westwood’s son Corré. His father was Malcolm McLaren, the supervisor of the punk band the Intercourse Pistols and Westwood’s collaborator — they ran the clothes retailer SEX in London within the Seventies.

“These garments that she designed at the moment have been probably the most glamorous factor you’d ever seen,” Corré mentioned of his mom’s designs from that period in an interview with The Herald in March. “However on the similar time, she additionally regarded like some type of alien had landed from area since you’d by no means seen anybody like that.”

Corré based his lingerie model in 1994 in London. Its starting “marked a pivotal shift in British counterculture by subverting the male gaze to empower girls,” based on the model’s web site.

 

She dressed as Margaret Thatcher for the duvet of Tatler within the ’80s.

margaret thatcher and vivienne westwood

Thatcher on the left in 1989 (the yr of the duvet); Westwood on the best in 1991.Georges De Keerle/Getty Photos; Dave Benett/Getty Photos

Westwood’s Thatcher cosplay was iconic on the time, and it stays so a long time later. The April 1989 cowl exhibits the designer sporting a black swimsuit and pearls, and sporting Thatcher’s signature excessive hair, underneath the phrases, “this lady was as soon as a punk.”

The rationale for the duvet? Thatcher had ordered the swimsuit, however then canceled the order, leaving it open for Westwood to strive on.

“This cowl for Tatler was blown up on billboards throughout London Style Week — even I needed to look twice to consider it was me,” Westwood mentioned in her revealed diaries, “Get a Life!,” based on an excerpt shared by Dazed Digital.

“One week later Tatler’s editor Emma Soames obtained the sack. I’ve by no means requested Emma if there was any connection,” she continued.

Westwood had no concept who Emma Watson was when she offered her with an award in 2011.

Emma Watson, winner of the Style Icon award, poses with designer Vivienne Westwood

Vivienne Westwood and Emma Watson in 2011.Mike Marsland/WireImage/Getty Photos

As a real punk icon, it isn’t stunning that Westwood did not actually sustain with fashionable popular culture, and thus she admitted she had no concept who the “Harry Potter” star was when she offered her with an Elle Model Icon award in 2011.

“I mentioned, ‘Who’s Emma Watson?’ I by no means watch tv, I do not learn style magazines. They mentioned she was once in ‘Harry Potter,’ and I mentioned, ‘I’ve by no means seen ‘Harry Potter.” They mentioned they’ve this lady good friend known as Hermione and I mentioned, ‘Oh — she’s beautiful.’ So I should have absorbed one thing of her. So I want to give this award to Emma who I’ve simply met,” Westwood mentioned whereas presenting Watson with the award, based on the London Night Normal.

Pharrell Williams’ viral brown hat on the 2014 Grammys was designed by Westwood.

Recording artist Pharrell Williams attends the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014

Pharrell on the 2014 Grammys.Larry Busacca/WireImage/Getty Photos

One of many greatest type moments in Pharrell’s profession was when he walked the purple carpet of the 2014 Grammys in an outsized brown hat. By the top of the night, a Twitter account had been created for the hat, one that also exists and has over 12,000 followers.

CNN recognized the hat because the Buffalo Hat from Westwood and the late McLaren’s Autumn/Winter 1983 present “Nostalgia of Mud.”

Carrie Bradshaw’s marriage ceremony gown in “Intercourse and the Metropolis” was additionally a Westwood creation.

sex and the city

Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) on her marriage ceremony day.New York Each day Information/Getty Photos

In the course of the movie, Carrie (performed by actual style icon Sarah Jessica Parker), initially did not need an extravagant marriage ceremony or gown, however when she noticed this Westwood creation, she fell in love. Westwood finally despatched Carrie the gown with a handwritten observe, and although the marriage did not go as deliberate, she did look gorgeous.

So gorgeous, that Parker was as soon as once more noticed sporting the gown whereas filming the second season of “And Simply Like That.”

To rejoice the tenth anniversary of the movie, Westwood launched a set of ready-to-wear variations of the gown.

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