From Punk to mainstream and back to Punk

To complete my Designer badge, I needed to research a fashion designer. Fashion not being my thing, I was impressed to have pulled Vivienne Westwood's name from the recesses of my brain and decided to find out a bit more about her. As a teenager in the 80s, I was familiar with her name as a designer of a lot of punk clothing. I've heard her name since but not taken a great deal of notice so it was interesting to fill in some of the gaps.

I didn't unearth a lot of info about her early life but it sounds like she was fairly conventional. Born in 1941, married in 62 and working as a teacher, divorcing in 65. She became a self-taught designer and partnered up - romantically and business-wise - with Malcolm McLaren. They lived together and ran a market stall selling vintage 50s clothing and old records. I find it interesting that they were already very business-orientated by the time the punk movement started, much of it styled by them. I guess it's where they made their names and money. Westwood customsed t-shirts by ripping and adding printed slogans and graphics. She then experimented with zips, etc and the tartan bondage trousers were born. They opened a boutique, which seems to have been renamed a few times but it was something of a mecca for youth fashion. Doubtless, this was helped by the scorn of the Tory press and "establishment" because no self-respecting Punks would want to wear something their parents approved of.

Punk had its day and Westwood and McLaren went on to set up a more commercial clothing collection called Pirates. In 81, their relationship came to an end but they continued to work together for a further 5 years. Hats off to anyone who can work with their ex, particularly if he were responsible for a record as awful as Buffalo Girls!

Westwood branched out over the next two decades, creating collections that were inspired by more traditional and classical sources. It's clear to see the continuation of her interest in the 50s in some of her designs with some stunning dresses in beautiful prints. She built up her brand, operating several boutiques. She branched out into lots of areas of design, putting her name to some surprisingly conventional watches, shoes, bridal-wear, etc.

The impact she has had on fashion and design became clearer when I read that she had won British Designer of the Year twice in the 90s, the V&A had hosted an exhibition of her work in 2004 and she has been awarded an OBE - how mainstream for an old punk!

So, back to t-shirts. Westwood has recently evoked her early punk styling using sloganned t-shirts to protest climate change, fracking, etc. Meanwhile, the original Punk t-shirts she and McLaren sold back in the 70s are available on ebay for hundreds of pounds a piece.