Vivienne Westwood

Vienne Westwood was born in Glossop, Derbyshire in 1941 as Vivienne Swire and she became a primary school teacher of the suburban life. She was married to her first husband Derek Westwood and had her first child a year later so she did not intend to have such a path to fashion stardom. She eventually met Malcolm McLaren in 1965 and his different lifestyle inspired her to get out of the suburbs and join the fashion business with a punk inspired style.

After her split with McLaren, her designs represent the opposite of the traditional British standards and bourgeois etiquette. She began to explore the punk romanticism with the Pirates collection in 1981. She started studying the techniques used in fashion of the 17^th to 18^th centuries to reinvent it into her style. She used the corset and “mini crinis” to empower women instead of holding them to conservative standards. 

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Now, Westwood has the Red Label for ready-to-wear, Gold label for made-to-measurement garments, and Anglomania for a younger market.

Works Cited

Sherwood, James. "THE IoS PROFILE: Vivienne Westwood - Disgracefully Yours, the Queen Mother of Fashion ; Once She Shocked by Mocking the Queen. Now She's done it with Her Choice of Models." The Independent: 23. Jun 02 2002. ProQuest Central. Web. 11 Feb. 2013

Arnold, Rebecca. "Westwood, Vivienne." The Berg Fashion Library. The Berg Fashion Library, 2005. Web. 11 Feb. 2013. <http://www.bergfashionlibrary.com/view/bazf/bazf00639.xml>