Synopses & Reviews
Vivienne Westwood is a global icon whose career has successfully spanned three decades. This book highlights one woman's creative journey - from the early days of Punk to the establishment of her own fashion house. She has been an influence on the worlds of art, music, and fashion since the early 1970s, and was one of the first designers to show how fashion could be subversive - using clothes for public dissemination of provocative anti-establishment or political messages. Her later work is deeply influenced by history and literature, which she draws on to produce clothes which are witty, original, and technically accomplished. Both text and pictures illuminate her working methods, looking at her tailoring techniques, fabrics, and patterns, and highlighting key influences by featuring some of the objects that inspired her. The books is divided into two sections: a lively analytical text by the V&A's curator of contemporary dress, followed by an illustration section that charts the evolution of Vivienne Westwood's work - from the well-documented punk era, though some of her most influential collections such as Pirates, Harris Tweed, Mini Crini, and Anglomania. The photographs have been personally selected by Vivienne Westwood, and present her own vision of the high points of a career characterized by constant innovation and variety. The photographs are a mix of ad campaigns, fashion shoots, catwalk shots, and archive images, many rarely seen or long forgotten.
Synopsis
Vivienne Westwood is a global fashion icon whose career has spanned three decades. This book, published to accompany the first retrospective of her work, at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, highlights one woman's creative journey from the early days of punk to the establishment of her own fashion house.
Westwood has been an influence on the worlds of art, music, and fashion since the early 1970s. One of the first designers to create subversive fashion, clothes that disseminated political messages, she later found inspiration in history and literature, producing clothes that are witty, original, and technically accomplished.
The book's 200 photographs, a mix of ad campaigns, fashion shoots, catwalk shots, and archival images, many rarely seen or long forgotten, chart the evolution of Westwood's work from outfits worn by the Sex Pistols to more recent creations for Sarah Jessica Parker, Cameron Diaz, and artist Tracy Emin. The pictures, selected by Westwood herself, together with Claire Wilcox's perceptive text, show why this fascinating designer has a cult following around the world.
About the Author
Claire Wilcox is a leading expert in contemporary fashion. She is the curator of the exhibition that this book accompanies. She is also the author of Radical Fashion and The Art and Craft of Gianni Versace.