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| A worldwide style icon on wordwide tour exhibition |
| February 01, 2008 |
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At the time when the hippy movement was in full swing and Rock 'n' Roll was not even played on the radio, Vivienne and Malcolm took inspiration from 50's, selling rockers garments and forgotten rock and roll LPs form the previous decades.
Some gifted artists combine their talent with charisma which adds a "magic aura" that transforms them into true legends in their field.
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In the years the shop changed names and trends, always revolutionary-minded and often suggesting new directions way in advance: from the punk clothing and accessories like safety pins, razor blades, bicycle or lavatory chains on clothing and spiked dog collars used as jewellery, to the outrageous make-up and hair, till the introduction of rubber-fetish-wardrobe... |
In the 80's Westwood creativity invaded runaways, starting with her celebrated debut in London in 1981 with her "Pirate collection" and being the first English designer after Mary Quant to have a show in Paris(1982); in the twenty five years that followed a lot of impressive collections hit European catwalks, combining different backgrounds and inspirations, from English traditional tailoring to couture-theatrical costumes, from feminine issues transposed in design to ironic, irreverent (but someway fascinated) approach to Monarchy institution in United Kingdom.
The extraordinary strength of the character is witnessed by the great penetration of her audience into different contexts, from haute-couture experts to underground urban tribes, from artist and musician followers to prestigious institutional recognitions and honour titles: Miss Westwood controversial attitude is also represented by the fact she has been nominated "Officer of the Order of the British Empire" and "Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire", but at the same time in September 2005, Westwood joined forces with the British civil rights group Liberty and launched exclusive limited design T-shirts and baby wear bearing the slogan "I AM NOT A TERRORIST", please don't arrest me, in open contrast to English government foreign policy.
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To celebrate her "grandeur" the first major retrospective of her work (under the supervision of Claire Wilcox) was shown in 2004 at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and at the National Gallery of Australia.
The exhibition is made up of around 145 complete outfits, grouped into the themes which have dominated her work from the early 1970s to the present day and were drawn from her own personal archive and the V&A's extensive collection. They range from early Punk garments to glamorous 'historical' evening gowns. The retrospective is touring the world and Milan was the last successful stop after China, Taipei, Japan, Germany, Thailand.
Even thirty and more years after the punk era, it is still time to shout "God save the Queen (Vivian)"
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