Vivienne Westwood. Revision Notes

Transcription

1 Vivienne Westwood Revision Notes Vivienne Westwood is often described as the mother of the Punk movement. This is because she worked with her partner Malcolm McLaren in a shop (which had various names) which attracted many interesting individuals. Between them they created the punk look associated with the Sex Pistols. Bondage trousers, ripped, torn and layered clothes often held together with safety pins and covered in provocative slogans are still the iconic look of the stereotypical punk rocker. Punk however came about for deeper reasons than a simple fashion trend. It came about due to the depressed economic and sociopolitical condition of the mid 1970 s. People were poor, worried and the gap between the poor and wealthy was wide. Youth reacted against the older generations which were seen as oppressive and outdated. Young people wanted to rebel and express themselves and what better way to do so than through clothes and hair? Westwood and McLaren saw the trends in music and fashion in New York and brought these ideas to the eager youth of Britain. They provided what people wanted at the right time rather than inventing Punk itself. Westwood, a former school teacher started as a seamstress in a shop partnership with Malcolm McLaren. The first shop was called Let it Rock in 1971 and catered to the Teddy Boy look which was taken from the gangs/subculture of the 1950s. In 1972 the shop was renamed, Too Fast To Live, Too Young to Die as fashion trends moved towards a more biker style influenced by the films of Marlon Brando. In 1974 with fashions brought back from New York the shop was renamed again as, SEX, in order to shock and to attract the emerging punks, a look that was beginning to flourish in London at that time. The Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were a short lived and infamous band which changed the face of music and gave a voice to a generation. They were working class antagonistic teenagers who were Punk before the word was even used. The band needed a manager to guide them and Westwood and McLaren needed a way of showcasing their designs and ideas. Punk styling was a unique product of a particular moment in social culture

2 which carried on into the 1990s. Clothing that was ripped, dirty, scarred, shocking, spectacular, cruel, traumatized, sick or alienating all of which were qualities actively sought after by Westwood and the punks of the 1970s. The punk look was working class and raged against capitalism and yet it fell victim to mass marketing within three years. Since then, Punk has never gone completely out of style. The Sex Pistols disbanded in 1978 but the look went worldwide and can still be seen today. Today teenagers still create their own look but you can buy the punk look in various alternative shops which really fights against the whole punk ethic. Westwood s working methods: The technical research into historical and ethnic dress through studying museum collections is what helps to make Westwood unique. She takes traditional methods and updates them creating new and interesting cutting techniques. Her influences are endless from witches to traditional uniforms. Westwood has always tried to cater for people who want to be individuals/go against the norm and to make a visual statement. Westwood has always been strongly influenced by Historical fashion and costume and often uses traditional/old fashioned materials such as tartan, tweed and lace. Her work is never old because of her exciting and new cutting and making techniques. She has a huge interest in new trends and street style and mixes old and new in a way that is bold, new and daring. Vivienne Westwood s shoes are unmistakable. She uses huge heels, bold and interesting styles, unusual shapes and mixes traditional with outlandish. She often takes classical silhouettes but creates her own distinctive style by using unusual colours with interesting fastenings and decoration. The Super Elevated Ghillie Shoe 1993/94 Her Autumn/Winter collection for 1993/94 was called Anglomania. Westwood brings together Scottish/ English traditional dress. She mixes masculine tailoring with super feminine styles. In this collection we find, laced bodices, long legs, short hemlines, soft feather boas with beautifully tailored jackets and outrageously high shoes. Her mix of working clothes and elite upper classes in this collection harks back to history when the upper classes found fun in dressing like the poor. The fabrics are hardy such as tartan but are trimmed with frivolous lace. The shoes are so high that one false move will find you crashing to the ground like Naomi Campbell did on the catwalk.

3 The constant nod to the past is emblematic of Westwood s creative vision. I m not interested in the future and I don t believe in progress, she told Guarnaccia in the book s Q&A. Progress and technology are all very well, but it s still necessary to put a limit on what comes out of machines, otherwise everything will become standardized and this would degenerate into the loss of any individuality. Marie Antoinette 18 th century The Queen sought refuge in peasant life, milking cows or sheep, which were carefully maintained and cleaned by the servants. Dressed as a peasant, in a muslin dress and straw hat with a light switch in her hand, accompanied by her ladies, she used buckets of Sèvres porcelain specially decorated with her arms by the Manufacture Royale. The place was completely enclosed by fences and walls, and only intimates of the Queen were allowed to access it. During the Revolution, "a misogynistic, nationalistic and class-driven polemic swirled around the hameau, which had previously seemed a harmless agglomeration of playhouses in which to act out a Boucherpastorale." [11] The queen was accused by many of being frivolous, and found herself a target of innuendos, jealousy and gossip throughout her reign. Although for Marie Antoinette, the hameau was an escape from the regulated life of the Court at Versailles, in the eyes of French people, the queen seemed to be merely amusing herself. As for how Westwood finds her inspiration: I work with fabric, and fabric can give you unexpected ideas, she says. Just as sculptors have to face marble blocks or painters blank canvases, you can have an idea from which to start but it s the fabric that makes the difference. With a piece of fabric and a handful of pins you can create the world.

4 The Super Elevated Ghillie shoe: Created for Westwood s Autumn Winter collection 1993/94 Anglomania Original shoe in bright blue moc croc leather with silk ribbons and 9 inch heel with 4 inch platform. The collection brings traditional Scottish dress and brings it from working clothing into high fashion by using excessive amounts of fabric, exaggerating the scale of tassels and the height of shoes. The models carry jewellery encased in boxes that look like royal orbs. The models are wearing huge gold safety pins through cheeks with the Westwood logo on them. Chokers have the word sex written on them in huge letters but unlike the punk clothing of the 70s this jewellery is decadent and sparkles with gold and rhinestones. The criss cross fastening is taken from a traditional Scottish shoe hence the name Ghillie (in Scotland) a man or boy who attends someone on a hunting or fishing expedition or a type of shoe with laces along the instep and no tongue, used especially for Scottish country dancing. The massive height of the shoe is inspired by the 17 th century Chopines used to protect footwear and clothing from filthy streets. These outer shoes grew to enormous heights to elevate the wearer head and shoulders above the poor so that they could look down on the lower classes. The heel is slightly flared at the bottom which again looks 18 th century and gives the heel a bit more stability. Two seams sweep around the side of the shoe and there is no obvious join between the sole and the upper of the shoe giving it and interesting and simple silhouette. The sole is curved at the front of the platform to make the shoe easier and more elegant to walk in. The height is designed to make the wearer stand out in a crowd extending the length of the leg to look tall and elegant. They force the wearer to walk slowly, carefully and elegantly. Blue has long been associated with royalty and again Westwood chooses a bold colour rather than a traditional working black or brown shade. The use of silk ribbons adds a feminine touch to a shoe with a large chunky sole. Silk is also an expensive, traditional, natural and fairly strong fabric. The shoes are famous because the wearer on the catwalk was a very famous supermodel called Naomi Campbell and she fell on the catwalk whilst wearing them. This collection is often referred to Westwood at her best as it is decadent, beautiful and yet harks back not only to historical costume but also to her punk heritage.

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