Vivienne Westwood

Vivienne Westwood is a renowned name in the world of fashion designing. She was born as Vivienne Isabel Swire in Tintwistle, Cheshire, England on 8th April, 1941. She was a student at the Harrow School of Art. In 1962, she became a primary-school teacher in London. She got married to Derek Westwood, with whom she had a child named Ben. However, her marriage ended within the next couple of years. Later, she was linked with Malcolm McLaren, the future manager of 'The Sex Pistols', an English punk band. In 1971, Malcolm opened a shop in London named 'Let It Rock'. He sold rock and roll equipment in this shop. Vivienne began to make clothes for this shop. The designs she sold were considered to be extremely radical in those days. McLaren's band the 'Sex Pistols' wore her clothes at their very first gig, with which the punk style began to gain popularity. Punk fashion consisted of rebellious hairstyle and makeup, bondage gear and bicycle or lavatory chains. The materials used were rubber, leather or latex. The clothing was very outrageous and it included dog collars and spike-heeled boots and shoes. In 1975, both McLaren and Westwood were fined for an exhibition that was considered indecent. Their first catwalk show took place in March, 1981 and was entitled, 'The Pirate collection'. The duo opened another shop in 1982 called the 'Nostalgia of mud.' It closed in 1984, and Westwood traveled to Italy where she got into a deal with Giorgio Armani. In 1989, John Fairchild's book Chic Savages mentioned her name among six best designers in the world. In the year 2004, the first retrospective of her work was held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The collection included a range of clothes from early Punk garments to glamorous evening gowns.