Vivienne Westwood was never one to follow the rules. From the moment she stepped into the scene in the early ’70s with Malcolm McLaren’s notorious Kings Road boutique, she became the ultimate symbol of British counterculture. The shop, provocatively named Sex, gave birth to a new aesthetic that would go on to define punk, with Westwood’s boundary-pushing designs—bondage trousers, ripped T-shirts adorned with safety pins, and a mishmash of tartans and leather—that turned rebellion into a look.
Westwood’s debut on the runway in 1981 with her “Pirates” collection marked the beginning of her long-standing fascination with history. She merged the past with the anarchic present, pulling silhouettes and cuts from the 17th and 18th centuries and flipping them into something distinctly modern. Whether it was the New Romantic mood of “Pirates” or the Buffalo Girls-inspired riff of “Savage,” her ability to mix historical elements with street culture kept the fashion world on its toes.
But Westwood was never just about the clothes. She was an activist before it was a trend, using her collections as a loudspeaker for causes she was passionate about—climate change, civil rights, anti-consumerism. She adorned her runways with slogans and calls to action, often confronting the establishment that once shunned her. Her manifestos spoke of cultivating the human spirit, challenging us to evolve beyond our self-destructive tendencies.
Westwood passed away in December 2022, but her influence is still alive and thriving. From her radical take on tailoring to her fearless activism, her spirit continues to inspire. More than just the “godmother of punk,” Vivienne Westwood was a designer who never stopped pushing boundaries, reminding us that fashion could, and should, be a form of protest.
