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Dame Vivienne Westwood died on December 29, 2022, on the age of 81.
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Westwood was some of the iconic designers in British historical past, and he or she was a punk icon.
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She famously skipped underwear when she met the royal household, two separate occasions.
Vivienne Westwood was a schoolteacher earlier than she grew to become a profitable designer.
Westwood grew up simply outdoors of Glossop in Derbyshire, England. She studied on the Harrow Faculty of Artwork and the College of Westminster, based on The Enterprise of Style. She lasted for one semester, finding out trend and silver-smithing, earlier than dropping out to give attention to work.
“I did not understand how a working-class lady like me might presumably make a dwelling within the artwork world,” she reportedly stated.
As an alternative, she grew to become an elementary college 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 stated she handed away “peacefully and surrounded by her household” in Clapham, South London.
“The world wants individuals like Vivienne to make a change for the higher,” the assertion stated.
She skipped out on underwear whereas assembly the royal household — twice.
In 1992, Westwood was invited to Buckingham Palace when she was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for her providers to the style trade. Throughout 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 stated she was somewhat amused by it,” Westwood stated, the Day by day Mail reported in 2006.
When she returned in 2006 to develop into a dame, she as soon as once more went commando.
“Do not ask,” she stated, based on the Day by day Mail. “It is the identical reply. I do not put on them with clothes. Once I’m sporting trousers I’d — my husband’s silk boxers.”
Her son is Joseph Corré, the founding father of lingerie model Agent Provocateur.
Agent Provocateur is without doubt one of the most well-known lingerie manufacturers on the earth, 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 had been probably the most glamorous factor you’d ever seen,” Corré stated of his mom’s designs from that period in an interview with The Herald in March. “However on the similar time, she additionally appeared like some form 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 ladies,” based on the model’s web site.
She dressed as Margaret Thatcher for the duvet of Tatler within the ’80s.
Westwood’s Thatcher cosplay was iconic on the time, and it stays so a long time later. The April 1989 cowl reveals the designer sporting a black go well with and pearls, and sporting Thatcher’s signature excessive hair, underneath the phrases, “this girl was as soon as a punk.”
The rationale for the duvet? Thatcher had ordered the go well with, 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 stated in her revealed diaries, “Get a Life!,” based on an excerpt shared by Dazed Digital.
“One week later Tatler’s editor Emma Soames received 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.
As a real punk icon, it is not shocking 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 stated, ‘Who’s Emma Watson?’ I by no means watch tv, I do not learn trend magazines. They stated she was in ‘Harry Potter,’ and I stated, ‘I’ve by no means seen ‘Harry Potter.” They stated they’ve this lady pal referred to as Hermione and I stated, ‘Oh — she’s pretty.’ So I will need to have absorbed one thing of her. So I want to give this award to Emma who I’ve simply met,” Westwood stated whereas presenting Watson with the award, based on the London Night Commonplace.
Pharrell Williams’ viral brown hat on the 2014 Grammys was designed by Westwood.
One of many largest type moments in Pharrell’s profession was when he walked the pink 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 wedding ceremony gown in “Intercourse and the Metropolis” was additionally a Westwood creation.
Throughout the movie, Carrie (performed by actual trend icon Sarah Jessica Parker), initially did not need an extravagant wedding ceremony or gown, however when she noticed this Westwood creation, she fell in love. Westwood ultimately 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 have fun the tenth anniversary of the movie, Westwood launched a set of ready-to-wear variations of the gown.
Learn the unique article on Insider