Sheffield’s Millennium Galleries plays host to the work of iconic British designer and true bastion of English eccentricity (a nominated Icon), Vivienne Westwood, this summer, with an exhibition of her clothes on show until September 21. This is the only UK showing, outside of London, of an exhibition spanning 30 years of Westwood’s endlessly inventive career.
Vivienne Westwood is perhaps most famous for her association with punk pioneer Malcolm McLaren and the retrospective begins with her designs for McLaren’s shop, SEX, on London’s King Road.
These outfits, decorated with studs, chains and even chicken bones arranged to spell the word ‘rock’, show how important Westwood was in defining the look of the punk era.
Testament to Westwood’s versatility and magpie approach to fashion, in her 1987 collection, Harris Tweed, she used the upper classes’ favourite fabric to poke fun at British traditions, even including a Harris Tweed crown in her outfit, Bride of Fortune.
Surprisingly these parodies of British design are far gentler than you would expect from a designer who claims, “the only reason I’m in fashion is to destroy the word conformity.”
Westwood’s career has been built on combining the outlandish with the glamorous, and she is passionately sincere about her unique vision of what is beautiful.
Visitors who are curious about Westwood but only mildly interested in fashion may find the collection, which contains over 150 designs and covers all aspects of her career, a little overwhelming. But the exhibition, curated by the Victoria and Albert Museum, works hard at being understated.
The black walls are a concession to her punk origins but the background music foregoes The Sex Pistols for a classical soundtrack and the outfits are arranged fairly conservatively. Instead the clothes are left to make their own statements and the bold, innovative designs on display mark Vivienne Westwood as a true fashion original.
Words: Sophie Allen
Click here for more information about the exhibition and visiting Sheffield’s Millennium Galleries.
