Fashion icon Vivienne Westwood has died “peacefully and surrounded by her family, in Clapham, South London” at 81 years old, a statement released this morning announced.
Born Vivienne Isabel Swire in 1941, Westwood grew up in the working-class of England, something which solidified her determination to prove she could make her fortune in the arts. She started her career as a factory worker before starting her own jewellery line– taking a silversmith course at the University of Westminster.
In 1971, Westwood launched her own clothing line with her second husband Malcolm McLaren. The couple opened a boutique specialising in revival outfits, controversially renaming it SEX in 1974, with a curated line of rebellious clothing defined by ripped t-shirts, plaid patterns, integrated rubber, mohair tops, and safety pins as embellishments.
When McLaren took on a role as manager to iconic rock band The Sex Pistols shortly after, the couple’s designs grew rapidly in popularity with Westwood soon widely credited as bringing the British punk movement into the mainstream with her clothing.
“It changed the way people looked,” Westwood said in an interview with the Independent. “I was messianic about punk, seeing if one could put a spoke in the system in some way. I realised there was no subversion without ideas. It’s not enough to want to destroy everything.”
By the 1980s, Westwood had reinvented herself, shifting her design focus from the punk scene to parodies of wealthy women and pushing the boundaries of female sexuality. She debuted her official fashion collection, Pirates, in 1981.
In the years after, Westwood designed academic dresses for London’s King’s College, created uniforms for Virgin Atlantic, and produced mock up digital garments for video game characters like Lunafreya Nox Fleuret in Final Fantasy XV.
In 2011, Westwood told the Guardian that her investment in art rendered her a “freedom fighter”.
“If you invest in art, if you study yourself, you become a freedom fighter immediately because your life changes, you get off the consumer treadmill, and you start thinking. My thing as a fashion designer [is] I said buy less clothes. Keep wearing things that you’ve really chosen that you really love. That is status. It’s not that you have to keep consuming. A status symbol is a book.”
Westwood will also be remembered as a vocal activist, routinely using her platform to rally support for Julian Assange, and environmental justice. In 2012, she created the Climate Revolution, an initiative to combat global warming and climate change.
“Capitalism is as corrupt as a rotten apple,” Westwood wrote in a Climate Revolution manifesto. “It’s the economy, stupid! U accept because u think there’s no alternative. But we have hope (war is fought 4 land + cheap labour). Change the economy – NO MAN’S LAND.”
News of Westwood’s death, has spurred numerous artists to pay tribute to the late fashion designer including Boy George and Yoko Ono.