Vivienne Westwood: Rebel with a heart of gold

The only reason I am in fashion is to destroy the word conformity,” she told the world. Brave and relentless, Vivienne Westwood never gave in. The iconic British fashion designer, who died in London on December 29, aged 81, took prudery head-on and used fashion fearlessly to call out capitalism and consumerism, and express her anti-establishment views.

Born in a Derbyshire village in 1941, Westwood moved to London with her family as a teenager and trained as a teacher.

Westwood lived her extraordinary life to the fullest. Who would have imagined that a primary school teacher from a humble background, with no formal education in fashion, would one day catapult the punk subculture into mainstream and inspire young people across the world to engage in politics and activism.

Fashion designer Rahul Mishra calls her a genre in herself. “During Paris Fashion Week, we both would often be on the schedule at Palais de Tokyo… Her death is a huge loss for the world but her legacy will grow bigger. She is an eternal inspiration for young people and designers across the world,” he says.

What sets Westwood apart is that she didn’t limit her craft to a fashion showcase, says Mishra. “She brought political statements to the ramp. If clothes could speak, hers did in the most fierce manner,” he says.

An unbelievable journey

In the early ’70s, Westwood ran a boutique, Let It Rock, on King’s Road in Chelsea (UK) with her then partner Malcolm McLaren, who managed the punk rock band, Sex Pistols. In 1974, the duo renamed the boutique SEX and sold edgy fetish wear, including rubber dresses, bondage trousers and stilettos with spikes.

Two years later, when Sex Pistols’ single God Save the Queen was refused airtime by the BBC, the shop was rebranded once again as Seditionaries. It sold clothes that were inspired by army combat gear, motorcycle gear, fetish wear and T-shirts with provocative graphics, meant to shake up the status quo. In 1980, the store was relaunched as Worlds End, the name it carries till date.

Let down by the rapid commercialisation of punk, Westwood took to high fashion. Her 1981 ‘Pirate’ Collection, which was hers and McLaren’s first official collaborative catwalk show, transported one to the age of highwaymen, dandies and buccaneers, featuring loose bottom trousers that gave freedom from constricting silhouettes.

Westwood went on to celebrate the ‘Tatler’ girls in outfits that parodied the upper class. She also wittingly converted corsets from an undergarment to statement outerwear, thereby defying traditional corsetry while using it as a symbol of freedom.

Critics often called her creations costumey and uncommercial. But, Westwood continued to soar in the world of fashion with a staunch fanbase.

In 1992, she was honoured with an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to fashion, which she received from the Queen at the Buckingham Palace in her cheeky style, wearing no knickers!

“A provocateur at heart, Westwood broke all boundaries! She possessed the courage to go against the flow and unapologetically be herself,” says fashion designer Urvashi Kaur.

“For me, Westwood’s approach of owning your own destiny and aesthetic and not allowing anyone to dictate your creative vision is phenomenal. A personality that stood for more than just fashion, she let her work disrupt the social constructs and had a great influence on my work because of her being so unabashedly herself,” says Kaur.

The designer, who was awarded the Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2006 for her contribution to fashion, was also a relentless activist. Westwood took up the issues of climate and social justice and wrote hard-hitting pieces on her website, No Man’s Land. She stood by human rights organisations such as War Child, which works for children affected by conflict, as well as environmental charities such as Cool Earth and Environmental Justice Foundation.

The inimitable Vivienne Westwood will live on in the hearts of her fans who she inspired to be dauntlessly authentic in their style and use it to create a better world.