Someone, who is legally distinct from me, posted 18 minutes of a 1990 Vivienne Westwood documentary onto Youtube. (That footage was found in a pile of moldy old videotapes.) The audio is slightly out of sync, which is vexing, but it's worth watching-- we see Vivienne, in the middle period of her career, advocating England returning to elegant paganism. We see various little dramatic vignettes featuring her clothes.



I like about 20 percent of Vivienne's work, and most of it is from the 1990s.

In the 70s, of course, she and Malcolm invented the punk rock look-- harsh, torn, vulgar. This was a necessary kick in the ass of a world saturated in hippy earth tones and denim leisure suits. But, I can do without t-shirts, punk rock or otherwise. (The only thing a t-shirt is good for is polishing a car.)

In the 80s, Vivienne did pirate clothes, but regrettably she combined the pirate elements with baggy genie pants and African prints.

In the 90s, Vivienne got her shit together, and did collections that were wonderfully British - tweed, tartan, classic tailoring. I think that, other than the 70s Sex Pistols involvement, Vivienne is best known for those tartans. She is great with the plaids.


I also like it when she uses men's style elements in her women's lines:



Since the 90s, Vivienne has been less impressive, though I do like her cheeky use of (ahem) 'mid century' helmets, in a recent collection: