Vivienne Westwood, Acclaimed Fashion Designer and Punk Style Innovator, Dead at 81

Acclaimed fashion designer Vivienne Westwood has died at age 81. A statement released through her official social media accounts announced her death, sharing that she was surrounded by family at her Clapham, South London home.

“The world needs people like Vivienne to make a change for the better,” the statement continued. The post concluded with a quote from Westwood that read: “Tao spiritual system. There was never more need for the Tao today. Tao gives you a feeling that you belong to the cosmos and gives purpose to your life; it gives you such a sense of identity and strength to know you’re living the life you can live and therefore ought to be living: make full use of your character and full use of your life on earth.”

Westwood is survived by two children and her husband Andreas Kronthaler, a design partner and creative director, with whom she often created fashion collections with.

Westwood played a pivotal role in popularizing punk style in the mainstream fashion industry beginning in the seventies, most notably alongside Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren, with whom she co-founded the boutique SEX.

The opening of the boutique pushed alternative styles defined by leather jackets, strappy bondage fashion, and the t-shirt as a closet staple-piece to the forefront through a cultural combination of music and clothing in Britain.

“The Sex Pistols would owe their fashion style to Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, first and for foremost,” Josh McConnell, founder of Straight to Hell apparel, told Rolling Stone earlier this year. “I would say if it wasn’t for those two designers and the Sex store on the King’s Road, then there would be no Sex Pistols. I’d say Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren invented the British look of punk.”