vivienne vestwood

www.viviennewestwood.co.uk

Vivienne Westwood

Vivienne Isabel Swire , d.b.a.'Dame Vivienne Westwood', was born in Glossup, Derbyshire( England) in 1941. She is a controversial fashion designer predominantly responsible for the up-to-date Punk fashion and New Wave music collections.

After graduating at the Harrow School of Art she was, for a term, a professor of the Westminster University.

Then she continued begun to attend Middlesex University Trent Park College, and since she liked teaching very much, she was employed as a teacher at a basic school in North London. Her first marriage was with Derek Westwood, with whom she has a son Ben. This marriage was very short – it survived only three years. The trigger of their break-up was Vivienne's romance with met Malcolm McLaren(with him she had a son named Joseph).Malcolm was, at that time, the manager of The Sex Pistols, a legendary punk group. Vivienne went on teaching till 1971, when Malcolm opened his first store, titled, 'Let It Rock' – this was the place where Vivienne started to sell her where Westwood began to sell her shocking designs. Vivienne, along with McLaren and Jamie Reid(an artist) were then largely affected by the so-called situationists. Prently, she maintains her own store(also called 'World's End'), located at 430 King's Road, in which she sells her Anglomania accessories.

The Sex Pistols went a long way towards the nowadays reputation of the punk style, when they begun to wear the garments from Westwood and McLaren's store at their first performance.

Vivienne achieved the rather outrageous impession of her clothes by incorporating the traditional features of British(mainly Scottish) design, like tartan, combined with the most unique and original elements, which characterize her style.This was done for the purpose of creating the most contrasting and astounding items. In the proces of her designing she made use of the patterns of cutting largely used in the past (the 17th – 18th centuries). That is why in her creations there is always felt a piece of history(though a “modernised“ one).

In such way Westwood , in the companionship with McLaren, innovated and revolutionized the world of fashion, which is still affected by it.