V&A - Vivienne Westwood

The Early Years | Maturity

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This section is devoted to Vivienne Westwood's work from the Portrait collection of 1990, when her designs began to receive worldwide acclaim, to Blue Sky, her most recent collection. It includes ultra-feminine suits, complex day ensembles in tweed and tartan, extravagant knitwear and opulent evening gowns.

In a period of minimalism, Westwood's creations introduced an air of romance and aristocratic hauteur. This derives from the refinement that she found in French design, but also from the 'easy charm' and impeccable tailoring of English dress. 'Fashion as we know it', she claimed, 'is the result of the exchange of ideas between France and England.'

Westwood sees fashion as personal propaganda, as an agent of arousal both physical and mental. The way clothes feel is as important as the way they look. To this end, she distorts, exaggerates and pares away the natural shape of the body, often using the constructions that she found in historical costume. She also gives each ensemble an agenda, laden with historical references which she says 'have a certain type of nostalgia which is how I would define glamour. They are part of the story of human culture.'