She has been pushing boundaries all her life. And now that she has passed away, she continues to push the boundaries of the fashion world from the grave. Known as “the high priestess of punk” and the “Queen to Extreme,” this British fashion designer changed the world of fashion for many years until her recent death. Now the world mourns the loss of Vivienne Westwood, who passed away at the age of eighty-one while surrounded by a loving family in her Los Angeles home in the final week of December 2022.
Westwood has been considered a fashion icon for decades – generations even. Back in 1992, she received the extremely high honor of the Order of the British Empire from Queen Elizabeth II. The designer always lived life the way she wanted to, with flamboyant outfits and bright orange hair. She was a British national treasure throughout much of her fashion career and was a leading icon in the Punk rock fashion movement of the late 1900s.
The fashion designer was born on April 8, 1941, in Derbyshire, England. She was born into a home that valued fashion and clothing. Her mother was a weaver, and her father worked on shoes as a cobbler. The pair influenced Westwood to pursue a life of fashion, which she took to the extreme. She began creating her own clothing designs during her teenage years.
In the 1970s, Westwood was married to her second husband, McLaren. He was the manager of the iconic punk rock band Sex Pistols. Westwood contributed greatly to creating the punk rock look that continues to be popular to this day.
Among Westwood’s biggest fans are Nigella Lawson and Marion Cotillard, both of whom are curvy icons in their own right. She also had her fashion featured in the 2008 Sex and The City feature film. Her designs were varied and eclectic, from bondage wear to tartan plaids, according to reports. One of her most famous designs featured an image of Queen Elizabeth with her lip pierced with a safety pin.
Westwood found her third husband in 1992 when she married Andreas Kronthaler. Although he was twenty-five years younger than her, the pair were quite the couple. They worked as co-designers to bring her ready-to-wear line of clothes to the public in 2016.
Andreas released a statement about his wife’s death which was: “I will continue with Vivienne in my heart. We have been working until the end, and she has given me plenty of things to get on with. Thank you, darling.”
When it came to politics, Westwood was an environmentalist. She believed in quality over quantity. And she made one of her slogans quite famous when she said, “What’s good for the planet is good for the economy.”
Other famous friends mourned her passing, including Victoria Beckham, who paid the fashion icon a tribute on social media, writing: “I’m so sad to learn of the passing of legendary designer and activist Dame Vivienne Westwood. My thoughts are with her family at this incredibly sad time.”
Designer Marc Jacobs shared on Instagram: “You did it first. Always. Incredible style with brilliant and meaningful substance…”
Rest in peace, Vivienne Westwood.