VIVIENNE WESTWOOD: A LONDON FASHION
Published by the Museum of London
THE
BLURB:-
Vivienne Westwood has come to be uniquely identified with London. Its edge. Its challenge. Its endless clash of cultures. She is Britain's most innovative post-war fashion designer, and her style is immediately recognisable. Her clothes are bold, sexually charged, outrageous. But Londoners who wear her agree: they are strikingly beautiful as well.
THE
REALITY:-
It's a tad naughty of me to review this book, as I first read it over 20 years ago, after visiting the exhibition displaying her clothes, which was held at the Museum of London. If I remember correctly, there was also an exhibition dedicated to British photographer Terence Donovan being held there at the same time, as well as their usual, historical artefacts, so it made for an interesting few hours. I didn't buy this book at the time- no, cheapskate moi found it in a cheapie bookstore a year later, for the princely sum of £1!
I own Vivienne's Lady Dragon Heart Shoes (incidentally, they're not that well made- I had to Araldite one of the hearts back on, after a rather tipsy barman decided to try them on and have a little dance on New Year's Eve, but that's another story. In defence of Ms Westwood, I don't believe her shoes are designed to be worn by drunk men...)
Here they are.💗
It was this incident that led me to revisit this book, and it's quite a charming composition; with the people (well-known and well-known to some) who champion her unique designs modelling them and telling us why they love them, as well as an introduction Q&A section from Romilly McAlpine (at the time the wife of the treasurer to the Conservative Party) who was the owner of all the gorgeous pieces at the exhibition. At the back of the book we get to find out how the atelier is run, with a piece dedicated to the cut and construction of her garments (which Ms Westwood herself wears- how many designers actually do this? It's been noted that so many create beautiful clothes then walk around always in black...) We also have an interview with her artisan shoemaker (who predates VW's collaborations with the company Melissa; the innovators of the heart shoes, and other jelly shoes which have become one of her signatures.) Talking of shoes, I've also seen the extreme platforms that Naomi Campbell fell off at a later display at the V&A museum, although I'm going off on a tangent now...
Always my favourite designer; partly because I was once a punk, in an era thought of as post-punk, and largely because she refuses to follow fashion slavishly and does things her way (I like to think I'm the same- I've no idea how I ended up, in a previous career incarnation, working as a designer for the British High Street!) I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting this book, mostly to feast my eyes upon some of her beautiful outfits and prints. I also like the way her clothes are unashamedly sexual- such as her corsets and toe cleavage shoes- and celebrate female sensuousness. This, in a world where so many prefer casualwear, androgyny and, quite frankly, bland outfits that "fit in." Well, I'm not one to "fit in" either and if you've got it then you might as well flaunt it!
Quite an intimate look at a very individual designer, this is a must for any alternative fashionista out there.
