LONDON.- AFP reported, “It’s hard to imagine the global fashion landscape without Vivienne Westwood. But it was only in the 1990s, after she’d been designing successfully at home for more than 20 years, that her signature corsets burst from the confines of Britain, onto the international scene.” Last week the Victoria and Albert Museum began a major exhibition of the work of Vivienne Westwood, one of the most influential fashion designers of the last 30 years. The exhibition is the largest the V&A has ever dedicated to a British designer and is featuring more than 150 designs mainly selected from the V&A’s collection and Vivienne Westwood’s personal archive. 

The show examines Westwood’s career from the 1970s to the present day. Westwood has been a major influence on fashion design from haute couture to ready-to-wear. Her career has spanned the punk era including outfits worn by the Sex Pistols in the 70s to grand ball-gowns influenced by historical art and dress. Vivienne Westwood, said:  

“It is extremely exciting that the V&A is mounting this exhibition exploring my work over more than 30 years. I am delighted to be able to share with people my archive and ideas. It is very important that the V&A continues to put on fashion exhibitions – fashion is an applied art and it is extremely vital and alive today.” 

The curator of the Westwood exhibition, Claire Wilcox, said: “Highly influential and always ahead of her time, Vivienne Westwood encapsulates a particular kind of Britishness, combining fearless non-conformity with a sense of tradition. She has made a major contribution to international fashion over the last 30 years and we are delighted to be holding this retrospective.” 

The exhibition celebrates the long-standing relationship between the V&A and Vivienne Westwood. The museum’s first acquisition was an outfit from the 1981 “Pirate” collection. Since then, the V&A has followed her career closely and now has one of the largest public collections of Vivienne Westwood’s designs. 

The exhibition explores how Westwood has incorporated historical references from fashion and culture in a unique and inspiring way. She has been influenced by the V&A’s historical collections and is renowned for her interpretation of the corset, crinoline and bustle. Historical garments will be included alongside examples of Westwood’s creations. An 18th century “sacque-back” dress will be displayed, for example, next to a green silk ‘Watteau’ evening dress by Westwood, worn by Linda Evangelista in 1996.  

The exhibition looks at Westwood’s often subversive adaptation of British traditions and gentle parodies of royalty. The exhibition will include sections devoted to tailoring, tartan and accessories. The famous blue mock-croc platform shoes Naomi Campbell wore when she fell on the catwalk in 1993 will be on display. Film and catwalk footage about the life and career of Westwood will be shown throughout. 

Westwood was awarded British Designer of the Year in 1990 and in 1992 she received an OBE for her outstanding contribution to fashion. In 1998 she was given the Queen’s award for Export and in 2003 she was named Export Designer of the Year. 

A book, Vivienne Westwood, is published by V&A Publications to coincide with the exhibition. Written by exhibition curator Claire Wilcox, with a Foreword by Vivienne Westwood, this is the first full-length study of her work as a fashion designer and contains over 200 illustrations.

 

And her career has been nothing if not ironic and interesting. Rebellious but never mean-spirited, Westwood has dressed everyone from punks (The Sex Pistols) and New Romantics (Adam and the Ants) to "domestic goddess" Nigella Lawson and youthful rocker Kelly (daughter of Ozzy) Osbourne.  

The woman who reckons she could teach Tony Blair (news - web sites) a thing or two about fashion, Westwood left her knickers out of the picture when dressing for the Buckingham Palace reception where she collected her OBE (Order of the British Empire) for services to the British Fashion Industry in 1992. And she was a dead ringer for Margaret Thatcher (whom she has called a "monster") on the cover of Tatler Magazine.              

"Vivienne Westwood is widely acknowledged not only as one of Britain’s most important fashion designers, but one of the most influential designers in the world."

—Simon Thurley, Director, Museum of London. 

“The more you know about her life and times, it becomes crystal clear that she is and always has been, an original personality, talent and public citizen, in every sense of the word. From her legendary romp in the 70s with Malcolm McLaren, when they discovered the Teddy Boys and became hippies themselves, they were determined to change the world.  

Not to say things were easy for Vivienne. In the 60s, she taught school to make a living but took time off to have two sons. In need of money, she went back to teaching, eked out a living and finally gave up and went to live with her mother in Wales.