Dame Vivienne Westwood (1941-2022) has always been a rebel – and at the same time she has become a classic of British fashion: creator of punk aesthetics, British style, especially tartan and tweed, singer, updater of corsets in fashion, political and climate protection activist… All these vivid features of her designs the facets will have the opportunity to be evaluated at the Fashion Museum exhibition Vivienne Westwood: A personal collection of clothes and accessories, which was made in collaboration with the British collector Lee Price. One of the leitmotifs of the exhibition is Westwood’s own words: “Life is much better when you wear impressive clothes.”
The manager of the fashion museum, Natalia Muzychkina, admits: “Vivienne Westwood did what real reformers often do – she thoroughly shook the dusty fashion chest, looking at things through the prism of irony or denial. But then, as if joking, she created her own style, which almost immediately became a classic.”
The best fashion designers sat in the first rows at Westwood fashion shows, the next generation of designers was influenced by Westwood – John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Junya Watanabe, he was admired by Jean-Paul Gaultier, Christian Lacroix, Azedine Alaia, Karl Lagerfeld, Ray Kawakubo… Even Gianni Versace in the 90s at first could not resist the rebellious charm of punk and included elements of this style in their collections.
The costumes and accessories that will be on display at the exhibition are part of the British Lee Price’s private collection. An avid Westwood fan since the age of 13, Lee used his pocket money as a teenager to travel to London and buy some of Westwood’s clothes – his first Westwood He still remembers the T-shirt…
“In my view, Westwood embodies Britishness and British heritage,” says Lee Price. “I perceive the clothes created by her as treasures of the future – and I am like a peculiar guardian of these clothes, who takes care of them. The wonderful thing about it all is that the Westwood collection will never be finished – there is always something more to do, something more to find – it’s a never-ending quest for the holy grail.”
