Week 2: Vivienne Westwood Research

A key to understanding our quote to the fullest is to understand Vivienne Westwood and what she was about. This was our first of the five key elements we thought as a group that we needed to research. A bit of a background on her life definately reveals some of the quote's key themes, for example how her fashion signaled a 'lack of social conformity'.

Below is a general summary of some key points, I'm sure we'll discover more but even now much of these points relate to both our readings, and reinforce the idea that fashion is much more than just a look.

23 Feb 09

"Fashion is Life Enhancing”[1]

Vivienne Westwood

General
`Born 8 April 1941 London
` became school teacher, then fashion designer
` parents owned post office: not fashion orientated
` after her first marriage she partnered with Malcolm McLaren, manager and creator of the punk band the Sex Pistols
` First store which sold punk clothing called Let it Rock. Ran by Westwood and McLaren in the 1970s. Carried Teddy Bear clothing. Later renamed to SEX

How she started with fashion
` never wanted to be fashion designer, but started because Malcom needed her help, and had ideas that he wanted her to help him with. He believed “you can sell rock and roll records to trendy people"[2] – hence the notion of launching fashion through popular culture: the music industry. In this case, by giving the Sex Pistols a new look.

1970s
“1970 was the beginning of the age of nostalgia. Looking back at my past and further, I’m bringing it all back into the fashion story” [2] Vivienne Westwood

The Punk Look
Westwood is responsible for 'punk' which she launched by giving the Sex Pistols that ‘look’;
"can I say that Malcolm and I did create punk, people don’t like that idea. They like to think that we stole it from the streets but it was invented in that shop"[2] Vivienne Westwood

The Political Activist
‘In those days, I was really interested in the idea of anarchy, I’m not now… but I’m very much about people power’[1] Vivienne Westwood

2005 – Joined ‘Liberty’, which is a British civil rights group. Still using fashion as a medium for her voice to be heard. Designed baby t-shirts with the following text; ‘I am not a terrorist, please don’t arrest me’

An anti approach
There is the suggestion that a parallel can be drawn between punk as ‘anti-fashion’ and the sex pistols who "couldn’t play insturments"[2]Interviewer in HardTalk interview BBC (See link [2])

Sources, Links:
[1] Catwalk 2008: Vivienne Westwood
[2] HARDtalk Dame Vivienne Westwood 2