Vivienne Westwood, The Punk Who Made Fashion Think

There are fashion designers, and then there's Vivienne Westwood, the woman who proved that a dress could start a revolution. Born in a quiet town in Derbyshire in 1941, Vivienne didn't exactly grow up dreaming of couture. She trained as a teacher, fell in love with London's chaos, and ended up changing the rules of fashion forever.

In the early 1970s, together with Malcolm McLaren, she turned a small shop on King's Road into the beating heart of punk. "SEX," their infamous boutique, sold ripped T-shirts, bondage trousers, and anti-establishment energy. The clothes were shocking, political, and brilliantly unapologetic. They dressed the Sex Pistols and, in doing so, dressed an entire rebellion. Westwood gave chaos a wardrobe and made fashion dangerous again.

But Vivienne wasn't just about provocation -- she was an intellectual rebel. Her fascination with history, art, and power transformed her designs into cultural statements. In the late '80s and early '90s, she reimagined corsets as outerwear, turned crinolines into sculpture, and made tartan fiercely glamorous. Her "Anglomania" collection in 1993 was a love letter to Britain with a wicked twist, aristocratic silhouettes colliding with punk attitude. She proved that tradition could be radical, and that rebellion could be elegant.

Westwood believed that clothes could carry ideas. She used fashion to protest, to educate, and to provoke thought. Long before sustainability became a marketing slogan, she was already warning the world about overconsumption and climate collapse. "Buy less, choose well, make it last," she declared, and she lived by it. Her runway shows often doubled as political theatre, featuring slogans, manifestos, and models walking with purpose rather than perfection.

After her death in 2022, her creative and life partner Andreas Kronthaler continued the house's legacy with emotional precision. His Fall/Winter 2025 show in Paris felt like a tribute and a love letter all at once, full of velvet corsets, asymmetrical tailoring, and oversized tartan coats that balanced power and nostalgia. Flowers thrown into the audience closed the show, a poetic gesture to the woman who made rebellion beautiful.

Even after her passing, Westwood continues to spark conversation. In 2025, her granddaughter Cora Corré criticised the brand's participation in Riyadh Fashion Week, claiming it went against Vivienne's values of freedom and equality. The debate reignited one of fashion's most essential questions: how do you preserve authenticity in an industry built on reinvention?

Her influence, however, remains untouchable. A landmark exhibition in Melbourne this year pairs Vivienne Westwood with Rei Kawakubo, two visionaries who turned rebellion into couture. It's a reminder that Westwood's legacy was never just about clothes, it was about courage, intellect, and imagination.

Vivienne Westwood taught the world that fashion can be radical, intelligent, and deeply human. She made us question conformity, redefine beauty, and think before we consume. She once said, "The only reason I'm in fashion is to destroy the word conformity." And she did -- gloriously, fearlessly, and forever.

Long live the queen of punk. Her revolution still walks the runway.