Vivienne Westwood is an English luxury brand strongly influenced by the London punk movement. The references to the underground style of England in the 70s are strongly recognizable through the motifs and fabrics used by the designer. Provocative, innovative and anarchic, despite making no secret of her patriotism, Vivienne Westwood's women's clothing collection does not lack the British imprint, with suits, coats and dresses in tartan or tulle, often with fishnet stockings and irregular lines or with maxi shoulders. The provocative prints and eccentric colors, the graffiti on sweaters and suits or the checked motifs on hats, are elements that distinguish the brand's collections. As far as women's accessories are concerned, there is no shortage of eco-leather bags and shoes with maxi soles, which stand out for their innovative design as in the case of the Rocking Horse Ballerina Shoe. The Vivienne Westwood's menswear collection follows the same common thread: from ripped jeans to patchwork sweaters, from provocative prints on t-shirts to maxi volumes on coats. The men's wardrobe is completed with accessories such as men's shoes, with colored monk straps, in eco-leather or fabric, sneakers with prints and boots inspired by eighteenth-century design.
Extremely attentive to social and environmental causes, Vivienne Westwood has always been the spokesperson for protests, raising awareness in the fashion and political industry on the issue of environmental protection and climate change, also collaborating with other designers, such as Stella McCartney for the defense of animal rights, or with Marie Claire for Save The Arctic. All Vivienne Westwood products are cruelty-free, therefore free of skins and furs of animal origin. “The Climate Revolution is Punk!” as Westwood herself recounts in her autobiography, and this is precisely the philosophy of the brand, which also embraces anti-consumerist thought, making the customer aware of the purchase of quality products rather than quantity, through the slogan "buy less, choose well and make it last”.
The Brand founded in 1971 was born at 430 King's Road in London, when Westwood together with her husband McLaren opened the "Let it Rock" shop, which featured brothel creeper shoes and which will later become the birthplace of punk style and the Sex Pistols, of which McLaren was manager and for which Westwood produced the T-shirts. So this was the beginning of one of the most influential movements in history. In 1975 the shop changed its name to "SEX", starting to sell fetish items, but it was with the "Pirates" collection of 1981 and with the birth of the "New Romatic" that Vivienne Westwood confirmed herself as a designer. She then creates the well-known mini-crini, introducing the corset as a garment to be exhibited and, since 1987 with the "Harris Tweed" fashion show, she embraces the parody of the upper class. In 1992 she was named Dame by the Queen of England and by the end of the 90s the success of the brand was now full-blown. Since 1989 Vivienne Westwood has directed the brand together with her husband Andreas Kronthaler, with whom she produces innovative collections and reinterpretations of the past, such as the famous tartan of the Anglomania clan and collaborating with fashion houses such as Burberry.
Muse of punk, rebellion and anarchy, Vivienne Westwood has always been ready to overturn stylistic canons and rules. The designer passed away on December 29, 2023, leaving the reins of the brand in the hands of Jeff Banks as director and her husband Andreas Kronthaler.
