Dame Vivienne Westwood Has Died At 81
Just before 2022 finally makes its much-needed exit, it’s decided to kick everyone twice in the soul. Because today, the world has lost two big legends. Football icon Pelé died in São Paulo at 82 after battling colon cancer. And sadly, joining him in the afterworld is fashion legend, punk icon, and activist Dame Vivienne Westwood who died at her home in London today. She was 81.
The news of Dame Vivienne’s death was announced on the social media pages of her fashion house. The statement pays tribute to Vivienne as a force in fashion and an innovator who made art up until her very last breath:
Vivienne Westwood was born Vivienne Isabel Swire in the village of Twintwistle in Derbyshire, England, on April 8, 1941. For a long time, I thought that Vivienne Westwood was born into a rich family of aristocrats and was a socialite heiress who rebelled against the upper class by punking the fuck out. But I was wrong. Vivienne grew up in a working-class family. Her mother worked at a cotton mill, and her dad was a shoemaker. As a teen, Vivienne made her own clothes. After Vivienne took jewelry-making classes at university and art school, she became a teacher, but on the side, she’d sell her jewelry on Portobello Road.
Vivienne Swire became Vivienne Westwood when she married Hoover factory worker Derek Westwood in 1962. A year later, she gave birth to their son, Benjamin. Vivienne and Derek’s marriage ended in 1965 after she met Malcolm McLaren. Meeting Malcolm was Vivienne’s first step into becoming the High Priestess of Punk. Vivienne gave birth to her and Malcolm’s son, Joseph Corré, in 1967. Until the early-70s, Vivienne juggled her school-teaching job and making clothes. When Malcolm became the manager of the Sex Pistols, the band started to wear fashions designed by Vivienne and Malcolm.
Malcolm and an art school friend opened a store in 1971 that they called Paradise Garage. That store later became, Let It Rock, which later became Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die, which was eventually rebranded as SEX. Vivienne and Malcolm ran SEX together, and the boutique sold clothes designed by them as well as bondage and fetish ensembles from other labels. SEX was an important part of London’s early punk scene. Vivienne and Malcolm ran it from 1974 to 1976. Chrissie Hynde worked there for a minute. Here’s a BBC report from 1977 on SEX, which features Vivienne and some chill Sex Pistols:
After SEX closed, Vivienne went HIGH FASHION and launched her first collection with Malcolm McClaren. The rest was fashion history, and tartan was never the same again! Below are two of my favorite Vivienne Westwood show moments, including Kate Moss closing the 1993 fall show with a very Vivienne Westwood wedding dress, and catwalk stomping warrior queen Naomi Campbell famously losing the battle against ankle-breaking Vivienne Westwood platforms. Vivienne and Naomi talked about that legendary fall during a British Vogue interview a couple of years ago:
Vivienne also designed the flight attendant uniforms for Virgin Atlantic, the costumes for Elisabeth Shue’s character in Leaving Las Vegas, and of course, Carrie Bradshaw’s very understated wedding dress in the first Sex and the City movie.
On top of being a fashion pioneer, Vivienne was also an environmental activist and regularly protested against climate change, fast fashion, and over-consumption. Vivienne, her sons, and her grandaughter founded a non-profit called The Vivienne Foundation. It’s supposed to launch next year, and it will “honour, protect and continue the legacy of Vivienne’s life, design, and activism.”
Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McClaren split for good in 1985. Two years later, Vivienne met Austrian student Andreas Kronthaler while she was teaching fashion at Vienna School of Applied Art. The two designed clothes together and got married in 1992. Andreas was later named creative director of Vivienne Westwood. Even though Vivienne Westwood was running a multi-million dollar fashion empire, she lived in a council flat until 2000. That’s when Andreas convinced her to move into their own home.
Andreas gave this statement about her death:
“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. Thank you darling.”
Rest in peace, Vivienne Westwood.
Pic: INSTARImages