Vivienne Westwood

Dame Vivienne Westwood played a vital role in the emergence of Punk Rock in the 1970s and has gone on to become one of the most original and influential designers of our time.

Her designs combine a nonconformity with a sense of tradition. She is renowned for her use of very British fabrics such as Harris Tweed and tartan, and her re-use of historic garments such as the corset and crinoline.

Westwood has spent many hours studying the costumes and paintings in the V&A. Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s early ‘Pirate’ collection of 1983 was based on an engraving of a pirate, while she found a pattern for 18th-century men's breeches in the Museum's National Art Library which became the ‘Pirate’ trouser.

The clothes evoked the golden age of piracy

Witches Collection

Contemporary designers continue explore the past for inspiration. Here, Vivienne Westwood looks to the 18th century. The suggestion of side hoops and the double box-pleats at the back echo 18th century fashion. The design subverts the sack-back style seen in Watteau’s paintings, yet the gown’s deliberate asymmetry, with a single off-shoulder style and a polonaise pouf on only one side, gives it a thoroughly contemporary look.

Despite her exactitude, Westwood's creations are never historical facsimiles; “I take something from the past that has a sort of vitality that has never been exploited – like the crinoline – and get very intense. In the end you do something original because you overlay your own ideas.”

Westwood's approach to bringing back the past in her collections has inspired me to concentrate my efforts on one specific style (merged with 15th century aspects) and base a story around my designs rather than just drawing up illustrations, they will now have more meaning as i intend to make a small presentation of designs alongside illustrations for a short story snippet i will write. (The illustrations i intend to draw will be stills, as in snapshots or screen caps from a moving picture.)