Vivienne Westwood
Vivienne Westwood rose to fame in the 1970s and 1980s as part of the British punk movement. Starting out creating clothes for her then-partner, and Sex Pistols manager, Malcolm McLaren’s King’s Road boutique in 1971, 10 years later she showed her first collection at London fashion week. Today, Westwood continues to bring the rebellious spirit of punk to mainstream fashion through her avant-garde designs – strong tailoring, romantic details and heritage prints are mainstays in her dramatic collections.
Dame Vivienne Westwood is an icon of British fashion. The Vivienne Westwood brand is quirky, colourful and eclectic, loved the world over by stylists, bloggers and celebrities alike; every woman should own a Vivienne Westwood handbag!
The new collection is no exception: classic Vivienne Westwood designs mingle with fun patterns and fabrics to create something truly special. The perfect designer accessory for every trendsetter, Vivienne Westwood handbags and accessories are wardrobe staples.
Sign Up To The Cut Price Vivienne Westwood Outlet!
Create an account with The Sale Network and browse the biggest and best deals from Vivienne Westwood and other leading fashion designers. You can receive personalised alerts letting you know when a brand-new Vivienne Westwood sale is live on our site. So what are you waiting for, sign up today and never pay full price for high fashion clothing from the biggest brands.Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood helped set the style for modern punk and New Wave music.
Who Is Vivienne Westwood?
Vivienne Isabel Swire was born in Glossop, Derbyshire, England, on April 8, 1941. Considered one of the most unconventional and outspoken fashion designers in the world, Westwood rose to fame in the late 1970s when her early designs helped shape the look of the punk rock movement.
How Much Is Vivienne Westwood Worth?
Westwood's net worth is an estimated $55 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Husband
In 1962 Westwood married Derek Westwood and had a son. The couple divorced three years later.
After partnering with Sex Pistols manager Malcolm Mclaren and having another son with him, Westwood married for a second time, this time to her assistant, Andreas Kronthaler, in 1992.
Westwood's Famous Designs
In 1971 Mclaren opened a boutique shop at 430 Kings Road in London and started filling it with Westwood's designs. While the name of the shop seemed to be in constant flux — it was changed five times — it proved to be an important fashion center for the punk movement. When Mclaren became manager of the Sex Pistols, it was Westwood's designs that dressed the band and help it carve out its identity.
But as the punk movement faded, Westwood was hardly content to rest on her laurels. She's constantly been ahead of the curve, not just influencing fashion, but often times dictating it. After her run with the Sex Pistols, Westwood went an entirely new direction with her Pirate collection of frilly shirts and other attire. Her styles have also included the mini-crini of the 1980s and the frayed tulle and tweed suit of the 1990s. She's even proved it's perfectly possible to make a subversive statement with underwear. "Vivienne's effect on other designers has been rather like a laxative," English designer Jasper Conran once explained. "Vivienne does, and others follow."
Later Years
Coupled with Westwood's unconventional style sense, is an outspokenness and daring that demonstrates a certain level of fearlessness about her and her work. In one famous incident she impersonated Margaret Thatcher on the cover of a British magazine. To do so, she wore a suit Thatcher had ordered but not yet received, an act that made Thatcher irate.
Still, Westwood's influence is hard to deny. Twice she has been named British designer of the year and was awarded the O.B.E. (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in 1992.
For more than 30 years, even after she had long made her fortune and fame, Westwood lived in the same small South London apartment, paying just $400 a month for the home and riding her bike to her studio in Battersea.
In 1992, ten years after Westwood and Mclaren split, Westwood married for a second time, to her assistant, Andreas Kronthaler, who is 25 years her junior. Today, Kronthaler is her design partner. The couple resides in South London.
Vivienne Westwood Movie
In June 2018 a documentary entitled Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist was released in the U.S., which follows Westwood's life from housewife to fringe designer to fashion icon. Directed by Lorna Tucker, the documentary has been praised by some critics, but Westwood has scoffed at it, pointing out specifically, that it hardly covered her environmental activism.
Westwood publicly made a statement about her disappointment in the film: "It’s a shame... the film is mediocre, and Vivienne and Andreas are not.”
Early Years
Born Vivienne Isabel Swire on April 8, 1941, in the English town of Glossop in Derbyshire, Westwood came from humble beginnings. Her father was a cobbler, while her mother helped the family keep ends meet by working at a local cotton mill.
At the age of 17, Vivienne's family moved to Harrow in the country of Middlesex, where the future fashion icon found work at a local factory and eventually enrolled at a teacher training school.
As Vivienne would later recall, her childhood years were far from London's high life. "I lived in a part of the country that had grown up in the Industrial Revolution," she once said. "I didn't know about art galleries…I'd never seen an art book, never been to the theatre."
By the early 1960s Vivienne's life seemed established. She'd married Derek Westwood, with whom she had son, Ben, and embarked on work as a teacher. Then, however, everything changed. Her first marriage dissolved and she met Malcolm Mclaren, an art student and future manager of the Sex Pistols. With Mclaren, Westwood had a second son, Joseph. Through her new partner, Westwood, who'd begun making jewelry on the side, was introduced to a new world of creative freedom and the power art had on the political landscape. "I latched onto Malcolm as somebody who opened doors for me," Westwood said. "I mean, he seemed to know everything I needed at the time."
WOMEN'S WEAR
MEN'S WEAR
