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Vivienne Westwood


Vivienne Westwood is known to be at the centre of British fashion, and
therefore is regarded as one of its most inventive and influential
designers. Despite the fact that she is an obvious choice, i am still
wanting to write about her in this essay as i am facinated with her work and
the sheer diversity of her creations. I particularly admire Westwoods
eccentric designs as they are always guaranteed to stand out from the crowd.
Despite the fact that her collections are all extremely diverse in
appearance, you can always spot an item that is hers. Vivienne Westwood is
most prominently known as the fashion desigher who most closely associated
with punks, the youth subculture that developed in England in the 1970s.
Although her influence extends far beyond the era, Westwoods relationship
with the punk subculture is critically important in order for people to have
an understanding of her style.
Similarly to how the mods and hippies had developed their own styles of
dress and music, so did the punks. Yet while the hippies extolled love and
peace, the punks emphasized sex and violence. 'Punk was about nihilism,
blankness and chaos, and sexual deviancy, especially sadomasochism and
fetishism'. The classic punk style featured safety pins piercing cheeks or
lips, spiky hairstyles, and deliberately revolting clothes, which often
appropriated the illicit paraphernalia of pornography.(see image 1) As a
young fashion student, i admire Westwoods drive towards the more
controversial issues of society such as pornography, which she reflected in
her punk collection. Despite the fact that there would be a very dramatic
response to her creations, she managed to succeed and grasp everyones
attention.

Westwood captured the essence of...