On December 29, 81-year-old Dame Vivienne Westwood, a pioneering British fashion designer, passed away. She was the one who first incorporated punk and politics into the prestigious world of Haute fashion.
A Westwood spokesman confirmed that she passed away peacefully in the Clapham neighborhood of South London, accompanied by her family. Vivienne Westwood came into this world on April 8, 1941, in Tintwistle, Cheshire, the daughter of Gordon Swire, a sausage factory worker, and Dora, a greengrocer’s assistant.
She was created before bustiers, bustles, tartan dresses, and bottom padding. Before her transfer to the London neighborhood of Harrow, where her parents managed a post office, in 1957, she completed her study at Glossop Grammar School.
After taking a term of a silversmithing degree at Harrow Art School, however, Harrow Art School is now referred to as the University of Westminster. Westwood decided she was intimidated by the art world and enrolled in a secretarial college. She eventually pursued teacher training.
She came in touch with Derek Westwood, an apprentice at the Hoover factory, at a dance in 1961. In 1962, she married him while wearing a dress of her creation. When Benjamin Westwood was three years old, his parents split up. They had a son together in 1963.
Who is Dame Vivienne Westwood?
Modern punk and new wave fashions are mostly linked to English fashion designer and businesswoman Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood DBE RDI (née Swire; April 8, 1941 – December 29, 2022).
Westwood rose to fame when she started designing the clothes for the King’s Road SEX clothing business that she co-owned with Malcolm McLaren. McLaren’s band, The Sex Pistols, ruled the UK punk scene in the 1970s because of their ability to fuse attire and music. She regarded punk as a way to “evaluate whether one might position a spoke within the system.”
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the struggle against climate change, and civil rights organizations were just a few of the many political issues that Westwood sponsored. She began by opening four stores in London and eventually expanded throughout the United Kingdom and the rest of the world.
Tintwistle, Derbyshire, was the place of Westwood’s birth on April 8, 1941. Just two weeks after the Second World War started, Gordon Swire and Dora Swire (née Ball), her parents, got married. Vivienne’s father had been a greengrocer before becoming a store employee in an aircraft manufacturing company.
In 1958, Westwood embarked on a jewelry and silversmithing study at what was then the Harrow Art School, now the University of Westminster, after her family moved to Harrow, Greater London. However, she left after just one term because she “didn’t genuinely know how a working-class girl like me could conceivably make a life in the art world.”
After obtaining employment in a factory and registering at a teacher-training institution, she became a primary school teacher. She created all the jewelry herself during this period and marketed it from a stall on Portobello Road.
In Harrow in 1962, she met apprentice Derek Westwood who worked at the Hoover factory. Westwood made her wedding dress, which she wore on July 21, 1962, when they were wed. In 1963, Benjamin, a boy, was born to her.
Sad Depart Of Dame Vivienne Westwood
According to a statement sent on the fashion designer’s Twitter account, Dame Vivienne Westwood passed away today at 81. In Clapham, South London, the fashion designer died unexpectedly surrounded by her family.
The designer’s home stated in a statement published at 9:04 this evening (December 29): “December 29, 2022. In Clapham, South London, Vivienne Westwood passed away quietly today, surrounded by her family. More individuals like Vivienne are required if the world is to improve.
In the 1970s, Vivienne Westwood became well-known for introducing punk to the general public and founding the boutique Let It Rock with her then-partner, Malcolm McLaren. Princess Eugenie, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Dita Von Teese have all sported her creations over the years.
In addition, Westwood was well-known for her activist efforts, which frequently called attention to issues like climate change. Her contributions to fashion earned her the title of dame in 2006. Andreas Kronthaler, Vivienne’s husband and co-creator, has declared: “I shall go on with Vivienne in my heart. We worked till the end, and she gave me lots of tasks.
Celebrities and politicians have also started to pay their respects, with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, among them. In a tweet, he said that Vivienne Westwood was “an innovative emblem who helped strengthen the UK at the very vanguard of modern fashion. She and her family are in my thoughts.
Season 1 winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race in the UK Tweeted Vivienne: “I learned that I could accomplish anything and wear whatever I wanted thanks to Vivienne Westwood. She was an icon; in some ways, I lived my entire life through hers. Unfortunately, there won’t be another, but your fight will continue.” TV host Johnathan Ross also tweeted his sympathies, writing: “R.I.P., Vivienne Westwood. Unique. Brilliant. Uncompromising. Thank you, Viv.”
