Vivienne Westwood went down in history for her provocative punk looks in the 1970s, when she dressed some of the biggest names in fashion. “I will continue with Vivienne in my heart. We have been working to the end,” said Andreas Kronthaler, her husband and her creative partner.
The British designer passed away at the age of 81 Vivienne Westwoodfamous for the innovative and daring designs that gave aesthetics to the punk movement of the seventies.
The news was confirmed today by her representatives, who detailed that the artist passed away peacefully and surrounded by her family in the Clapham neighborhood, south London.
Her husband and creative partner Andreas Kronthalerhe pointed: “I will continue with Vivienne in my heart. We have been working to the end and she has given me a lot to keep going. Thanks sweetie”.
The British designer became famous for her controversial punk looks in the 1970s, when she went on to dress some of fashion’s biggest figures.
Westwood, who held the royal title of “lady” for her services to the fashion world, will be remembered for her androgynous designs and slogan T-shirts. She was also a strong activist in denouncing the climate crisis.
Vivienne Westwood: cultural icon
Transgressive, rebellious and fervent defender of the environment, Vivienne Isabel Swire, known as Vivienne Westwood, was the main architect of the punk and New Wave aesthetics in this country, and often took provocative creations to the extreme that never left the demanding sector indifferent. Fashion.
Born in the English county of Derbyshire on April 8, 1941, the dressmaker took her last name from Derek Westwood, whom she married in 1962 and had their son Ben, and whom she left following meeting Malcolm McLaren, who was a representative of the emblematic punk group the Sex Pistols and “a very attractive cosmopolitan man”, from whose union Joseph was born.
At the time, Westwood was working in a primary school while making and selling jewelry from a stall in London’s popular Portobello flea market.
In 1971, he founded a boutique with McLaren with which the creative tandem revolutionized the way of dressing, and which adopted successive and suggestive names such as “Let It Rock”, “Too Fast To Live”, “Too Young To Die”, even a huge pink neon sign rebranded as “SEX”. This location served as the first platform for Westwood to begin exhibiting his extravagant designs.
Inspired by the “biker” style, prostitutes or fetishism, this aesthetic began to permeate following the first concert of the Sex Pistolswhere the musicians wore designs of the couple.
In those outfits abounded chains, safety pins, chains, or razor blades and, along with other factors from the more conventional British style, gave rise to the antisocial and transgressive “look” inextricably linked to punk.
People still remember the 1979 show at London Olympia, where Westwood and McLaren launched their highly praised “Pirates” collection, which became a benchmark for the so-called “New Romantic Look”.
It is in the 80s, following her separation from McLaren, when the name of Vivienne Westwood began to be taken seriously, especially since her original ideas were adopted by established designers such as Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaultier or Lacroix.
The press around the world did not skimp on praise for the British dressmaker, considered one of the most avant-garde designers of the last century.
“Lady” and environmental activist
For the past two decades, Westwood has been close to Austrian photographer Andreas Kronthaler, 25 years her junior and whom she married in Wandsworth (London) town hall in 1992, because “Austria was not part of the European Union (EU) at the time. ) and Andreas might not have stayed in this country.”
Though he reneged on the British monarchy years ago, his views have ranged to lavish praise on Prince Charles for his environmental efforts. In 1992, she was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II, while in 2006 she was made a Dame.
Best British Designer in 1990, 1991 and 2006, Westwood, who first came to London at the age of 17 “no cultural knowledge”railed once morest fashion for “not being very intellectual”, and went so far as to affirm that she does not feel “comfortable” defending her own creations.
In his marked facet as an environmental activist, Westwood presented his initiative “Climate Revolution” during the closing gala of the London 2012 Paralympics and supported the charity “Cool Earth”founded in 2007 by Labor MP Frank Field to preserve forests.
He also fought once morest the controversial gas extraction technique known as “fracking”, and in 2014 she shaved off her striking orange mane for an eco-friendly campaign. He also cited as “one of the most important people on the planet” James Lovelock, author of the “Gaia Theory”, which holds that the earth functions as a living super-organism.
In an interview with a British newspaper in 2012, Vivianne Westwood assured that she would like to be able to live “another 20 years” to find out what will happen to the environment.
