Vivienne Westwood through the years

A walk through the years

In this photobook you're going to experience the wonderful years of Vivienne Westwood's fashion career. From her first scribbles to her latest and newest designs.

The self taught fashion designer was a school teacher before she pursued her fashion career. Independently, she built her own empire.

She's largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions in to the mainstream. Now, she's one of the top tier designers who can't be forgotten about.

The first proper collection created by Vivienne Westwood to hit the runway during London Fashion Week in 1981 was Pirate. The result was a series of romantic, unisex and colorful clothes for FW evoking an imagery of bandits, dandies and buccaneers that became the uniform of many pop stars part of the underground.

'Witches' - FW 1983 'Pirate' - FW 1981

For the 'witches' collection Vivienne Westwood met Keith Haring and, together, the two gave life to one of the most interesting collaborations between fashion and streetstyle.

When Madonna, a friend of the talented New Yorker, saw the collection, she immediately fell in love with it and wore it on several occasions, helping to make it even more popular.

'Portraits' - FW 1991

Westwood's love of art and corsets is all showed in the Portrait collection. The inspiration comes directly from the Wallace collection of 18th-century French paintings and decorative arts, specifically François Boucher's Daphnis and Chloeand the rococo designs of 18th-century furniture printed in gold ink that found new life on corsets and black stretch velvet garments

FW 1993

'Café society' -SS 1994

For the show Vivienne opted for a decadent and theatrical atmosphere. In a set staged with chaise longues and carpets, models with powdered faces and pink colored lips wandered around the catwalk.

'Anglophilia' - FW 2003

Westwood returns to the historical imagery she loves most and reworks it for the new millennium. The designer reinterprets, among the many items presented in Anglophilia, the crumpled silk dress of Madame de Pompadour in a painting by François Boucher, one of her favorite artists. Asymmetrical cuts, a taste for the eccentric, art and history come alive here as in every other collection by Dame Viv.

'Propaganda' - FW 2006

Vivienne Westwood has always used fashion to challenge the status quo. In the 2000s, much of her activism was about Climate Change and Propaganda, is one of the collections that the British designer considers among the most political. In fact, along with the always present historical influences, deconstructed corsets and skirts, militaryinspired coats, layering and slogans make the items special.

'Unisex: time to act'

FW 2016

The declared sources of inspiration for the collection are "shepherds and Sumerians", but, really, the result is a kind of reflection on unisex fashion and inclusion. On the runway, we see alternating tailored suits, androgynous looks, hula skirts, bangs, hooded capes and floral long dresses.

economy'

SS 2019

'Wasteland' - SS 2020

This collection was an artful mishmash. Westwood’s main inspiration was apparently the stand-up theater of Italy’s commedia dell’arte as well as the also Italian, but more recent, character of Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi’s lying puppet.

Runway shoe's

Vivienne Westwood is known for flouting fashion rules and her innovative footwear designs are no exception.

SS 2022

Latest runway:

'Sous le ciel de Paris' - SS 2023

A perfectly blended juxtaposition of archival detailing and shapes mixed with modern fabrications, upcycled fabrics and tongue-in-cheek accents.

Signature gathering and ruffles were to be found at the hems of the voluminous skirting and the sleeves reminiscent of Renaissance portraiture.

A striking concentric circles motif spiralled in and out of focus on a number of ensembles, from retro printed mesh dresses to seductive one shoulder, black evening gowns.