Vivienne Westwood in The Gentlewoman / When Vivienne talks, we should listen

 

Vivienne 
Westwood

When Vivienne talks, we should listen

Text by Deborah Orr
Portraits by Alasdair McLellan
Styling by Jonathan Kaye

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Issue n° 9, Spring & Summer 2014

Vivienne Westwood is the fearless 72-year-old with dyed red hair who goes to the Met Ball wearing a Bradley Manning badge, but to file her under “English eccentric” is to rather miss the point. Brazenly contradictory, Dame Vivienne is surely the only couturier ever to have been invited to Downing Street to discuss climate change; yet as the owner of a multi-million-pound fashion business, she’s kitting out Virgin Atlantic’s staff with new uniforms. 

Life Lessons from Vivienne Westwood

Vivienne Westwood

Life Lessons from Vivienne Westwood

By Ernesto Macias

March 11, 2022

Welcome to Life Lessons. This week, in celebration of Women’s History Month, we’re revisiting Vivienne Westwood’s 2012 Interview feature. In it, the punk icon talks to Tim Blanks, the former Editor-at-Large of the now-defunct iconic fashion hub Style.com (and current Editor-at-Large of Business of Fashion). In their conversation, the then 71-year-old Dame of the British Empire gets candid with Blanks about her punk roots, her ever-evolving style, and aging with style. So sit back, grab a pen—you just might learn a thing or two.

Alain Elkann interviews Vivienne Westwood

Vivienne Westwood

by Alain Elkann

Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood: “People have never been so poorly dressed.”

Vivienne Westwood, what state is the fashion industry in?

“I make avant-garde things, but I hear from people that there is a crisis, and that it is quite serious. I don’t know how long it will last though. But then there are still many who can spend a lot for clothing. The message I would like to send is to buy less but choose well. And this is how my collection is. I say to create small scarves, use safety pins and old fabrics. If you spend a lot on one thing and you choose well, this is the right way to do it.”