Dame Vivienne Westwood, DBE, RDI (born Vivienne
Isabel Swire on 8 April 1941) is an English fashion designer and
businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the
mainstream.
Westwood came to public
notice when she made clothes for Malcolm McLaren's boutique in the King's Road,
which became famous as 'SEX'. It was their ability to synthesise clothing and
music that shaped the 70's punk scene, dominated by McLaren's band, the Sex
Pistols. She was deeply inspired by the shock-value of punk - "seeing if
one could put a spoke in the system".
Westwood went on to open five
shops, selling an increasingly varied range of merchandise, some of it linked
to her many political causes such as CND and the civil rights group Liberty.
She has been twice married, with two children.
Active
Resistance
manifesto
In a 2007 interview she spoke
out against what she perceive as the "drug of consumerism", and she attended the première of The Age of Stupid, a film aiming to motivate the public to
act against climate change.
She later created a manifesto
of Active Resistance to Propaganda,
which deals with the pursuit of art in relation to the human predicament and
climate change. In her manifesto, she "penetrates to the root
of the human predicament and offers the underlying solution. We have the choice
to become more cultivated and therefore more human – or by muddling along as
usual we shall remain the destructive and self-destroying animal, the victim of
our own cleverness."
Against the claim that anti-consumerism and fashion contradict each other, she said
in 2007 that "I don't feel comfortable defending my clothes. But if you've
got the money to afford them, then buy something from me. Just don't buy too
much."
Sex and the City
Westwood's designs were featured in the 2008 film adaptation of
the television series Sex and the City.
Artistic influence
Westwood has influenced the
launch of the careers of other designers into the British fashion industry. She
employed the services of Patrick Cox to design shoes for her Clint Eastwood collection in 1984. The result was a
prototype for nine-inch-heeled shoes like the ones worn by supermodel Naomi Campbell when she fell during a Westwood fashion show in
Paris in 1993
Information was collected from HERE
After seeing her logo i decided to look a bit more into it, to see what it was about.
The 'orb' of Vivienne Westwood reflects
the orb of the British Crown Jewels but with the addition of the 'planetary'
circle around it she gave it a bit of a punk twist. She has always used a lot
of tweeds and tartans, which inspired her logo:
"The infamous Harris Tweed is certified as a genuine by the Harris Tweed Authority. The orb motif was reworked by Vivienne Westwood for her label logo." (from the book Made in Britain)
"The infamous Harris Tweed is certified as a genuine by the Harris Tweed Authority. The orb motif was reworked by Vivienne Westwood for her label logo." (from the book Made in Britain)
The information was collected HERE
After seeing this i looked for the HARRIS TWEED logo.
British fashion designer Vivienne
Westwood is a fan of Harris Tweed - her brand logo is very similar to Harris
Tweed's logo.
The Harris Tweed Authority pursued a long-running legal case to stop her using
the Orb trade mark but Westwood won by being able to point to three minor
differences between her logo and Harris Tweed's. While she has used Harris
Tweed, the logo is often attached to products that are not made with Harris
Tweed.
Information collected HERE
INTERESTING VIVIENNE WESTWOOD IMAGES
No comments:
Post a Comment