The pioneering fashion designer made a name for herself in the fashion world in the 1970s with her androgynous designs, T-shirts with slogans and irreverent attitude towards the establishment.
Dame Vivienne passed away peacefully and surrounded by her family on Thursday ClaphamSouth London,” her representatives said.
In a statement, her husband and creative partner say Andrew Kronthaler said, “I will continue with Vivienne in my heart.
“We worked to the end and she gave me enough things to keep going. Thanks darling.”
The statement from her representatives added: “Vivienne continued to do the things she loved, until the very last minute, designing, working on her art, writing her book and changing the world for the better.
“She led a great life. Its innovation and impact over the past 60 years has been immense and will continue into the future.”
It also said The Vivienne Foundation, a not-for-profit company founded in late 2022 by Dame Vivienne, her sons and granddaughter, will be launched next year to “honor, protect and carry forward the legacy of Vivienne’s life, design and activism.” to make”. ”.
Born in Cheshire in 1941, Dame Vivienne is widely credited with making punk and new wave fashion mainstream with her eccentric creations.
Her designs were regularly worn by high-profile individuals, including Dita Von Teese who wore a purple Westwood wedding dress to marry Marilyn Manson, and Princess Eugenie who wore three Westwood designs for various elements of William and Kate Middleton’s wedding.
Dame Vivienne’s designs also featured in the 2008 film adaptation of Sex And The City, starring Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw.
In addition to her work as a designer, Dame Vivienne supported a number of social and political initiatives, including campaigning for the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assangewho is fighting to avoid being sent to the US to face charges under the Espionage Act.
In July 2020, Dame Vivienne issued a warning about a “stitching” from Assange while dressed in canary yellow in a giant birdcage.
Dame Vivienne led a colorful group of protesters chanting ‘Free Julian Assange’ outside the Old Bailey in central London.
She hung in the cage and said, “Don’t hand Assange over — it’s a bondage.”
During London Fashion Week in 2012, she appeared on the catwalk herself, wearing a banner with the words ‘climate revolution’ and lots of meat underneath.
Ahead of her show, which took place on the third day of London Fashion Week, she said showing off her clothes simply gave her a platform to talk about climate change.
“It’s my job and it gives me an excuse,” she said.
“Before we had class war, we had rich against poor, do you know what the division is now? They are idiots against eco-warriors. That is it.”
That same year, when she attended a reception at St James’s Palace to launch a new exhibition of British menswear at an event hosted by the then Prince of Wales, Dame Vivienne said that much of her respect for the royal family goes to Charles was thanks.
She said: “I’m a big fan of the Queen, I think she’s great and everyone comes to that opinion.
“But I think a lot of my respect for the royals is based on Prince Charles – he has done far better things for the country than any English politician.”
As the self-proclaimed queen of punk, she always caused controversy in the fashion industry with her daring creations.
Largely responsible for anti-establishment punk fashion, the designer became known for her subversive and eccentric take on traditional British style.
She and Malcolm McLaren, former manager of punk band The Sex Pistols, opened a store called Let It Rock — also known as Sex — in the early 1970s where she began selling her outrageous outfits.
The punk style included bondage gear, safety pins, razor blades, bicycle or toilet chains, and spiked dog collars.
The style icon caused a stir in 1992 when she collected her OBE from the Queen minus her underwear and twirled in the courtyard to reveal it all.
In 2006, when she became a Dame, she again chose not to wear underpants and went to Buckingham Palace wearing a pair of silver horns.
Describing her outfit on the day — a black cap on the back of vibrant orange hair and a black dress with campaign badges and the little horns on her head — she said it made her look like an urban guerrilla and a Che Guevara figure .
She explained: “I have to look a bit like a Che Guevara – an urban guerrilla, with my cap, this kind of jungle net and a badge for my Active Resistance Against Propaganda campaign.”
Some of her most famous creations include the Mini Crini, bustle skirts, bondage pants, and 12-inch platform heels, the type that made supermodel Naomi Campbell famous.
She developed the idea of underwear as outerwear — and Madonna’s legendary conical bra worn on her Blonde Ambition tour, designed by Jean Paul Gaultier, probably never would have happened if it weren’t for Westwood.
She also transformed the corset from a symbol of female oppression into a symbol of power and sexual freedom.
After becoming a primary school teacher, she quit her job to become a punk fashion dressmaker and opened her shop on Chelsea’s Kings Road with her then-partner McLaren.
The Sex Pistols wore the shop’s clothes on their first appearance, and Westwood’s first runway show was presented at London’s Olympia in March 1981.