Dame Vivienne Westwood was disruptive until the end. The designer’s final statement to the press, made shortly before she died on December 29, read as a final petition to change the world. “Julian Assange is a hero and has been treated atrociously by the UK government,” she said. “Capitalism is a crime. It is the root cause of war, climate change, and corruption.” Westwood believed she could tear down and rebuild the institution because she had already done so once – if not multiple times – before. With punk, the designer fundamentally affected the way people thought about clothing, seeing fashion as a vehicle for political and social change. Her consistent skewering of tradition (the sexed-up tartan, mini-crinis, boucher corsets, and cut-and-paste Marie Antoinette gowns) became touchstones of an anti-establishment philosophy dedicated to rewiring our relationship with the status quo.
And yet so much of it was deliberately silly, too: a topless Kate Moss in a micro-mini licking a dripping bar of Magnum ice cream; Naomi Campbell tumbling to the ground in a pair of 9-inch mock-croc platforms; Sara Stockbridge pulling up her skirt to priggish TV audiences; Westwood pulling up her skirt to photographers at her damehood. The designer understood that fashion was important because – not in spite of – it being frivolous. In the 24 hours since Westwood’s passing, a deluge of tributes have surfaced on social media, with Donatella Versace, Helena Christensen, Riccardo Tisci, and plenty more paying their respects to a cultural “hellraiser” – as Rose McGowan described her. Take a look below to see how the rest of the industry has responded to the sad news of Vivienne Westwood’s death and revisit Dazed’s 2018 interview with the designer here
