Vivienne Westwood World

[pinar]

She had a fashion show in İstanbul 2 days ago.
yelizindunyasi.com

[pinar]

continued

[Tentacl Ventricl]

Originally Posted by valerique

art.transindex.ro

'On Liberty' collection, autumn/winter 1994/95

http://autoscopia.com

Hey - top left. Did McQueen see that shoe before he created SS10?

[Tentacl Ventricl]

I found the Cathy Horyn article most interesting - thanks for posting.

The exposition of VW's essential difference from Galliano helped me to understand my sense that SS10 is very much a Westwoodian season but decidely not a Gallianoesque one.

I have this sense that fashion maintains this equivocal stance toward VW's import and legacy still, perhaps, not fully allowing her insider status?

Perhaps it has to do with the birth of her notoriety - the self-taught, eccentric, fiercely independently minded seemstress/ shop-owner (structural parallels with Rei K); but never really the mastermind of the movement but the Svengali's sidekick.

Perhaps, with the moneymen, we just can't, somehow, entrust her with the keys to the House. We want to keep her 'out-there'.

Maybe the political posturing doesn't sit well. We'll take an ecological message writ as performative biotherm apocolypse, Deleuzian becoming-reptilealien in the hands of McQueen but we won't be sloganised - we like our fashion as art but not politics. Even though, at root, the message is in the same territory. Perhaps.

I have this sense that we are about to become that litle bit more Westwardian in our outlook. And that therefore the time might be right to complete what I see as the unfinished task of understanding her legacy and import.

Perhaps there is something to be said for just saying she is the beacon of a peculiarly British eccentricity and iconoclasm. Perhaps that's just where the deconstructing English heritage phase ought to

But I can't help but see parallels with Rei Kawakubo - not only that structural similarity alerted to above; the longevity; the iconoclasm; the DIY readiness to collage and leave edges rough, but in the textures, themes and silhouettes too. So I wonder if here we have something wider, something which transcends localism.

Perhaps it's what Westwood says at the conclusion of the Horyn article about the 'asymetrical, unstructured things that sort of have this rapport with the body'. Perhaps there is something more in this aspect shared with Rei Kawakubo than is currently realised. As the New York Times article concludes it's the return to the Westwood of the punk years. Although I'd add, mediated through the fashion and world event history since her mini-crini turn, her turn toward Galliano and Dior in 1985.

It's where SS10's ease comes from. The fashioning of the body becomes more fluid, more visceral. And perhaps, too, where the season's edge comes from. Things are oppositional once more. There are issues. Or nihilism. Not just money. And the 'what is' of The Past.

There is East. And South. Not just West. There is Water. Not just Wood. There is Fire. Not just Air. As the moneymen perhaps feared she might, she brings fire to the House.

The twin High Priestess of [PoMo] deconstruction?

[mermaidsandcats]

Originally Posted by katy

Her tailoring is amazing if you have a large bust like I do

And what about us itty bitty girls? I am curvy only from the hips down, so should I expect most of her tops, sweaters and jackets to not fit me/be very loose?


Are there any other good books on her than Vivienne Westwood by Claire Wilcox. I could only find Vivienne Westwood: A London Fashion, not sure if I want to pay ~60 € for 80 pages .

[softgrey]

Originally Posted by mermaidsandcats

And what about us itty bitty girls? I am curvy only from the hips down, so should I expect most of her tops, sweaters and jackets to not fit me/be very loose?

the answer is definitely Y-E-S...



much as i love her work...i can't wear much of it for that very reason...
i am just petite all over and i don't fill it out the way its meant to be filled...

[honeycombchild]

Vivienne has designed a range of T-shirts for TK Maxx here in the UK for Comic Relief. They feature black and white images of Shakespeare, Blackadder, and Marie Antoinette on them in gilded frames with a red nose on them. Pretty cool, and very Westwood. £9.99, and £14.99 each.

[chanelslungbags]

Not really a fan of VW, never have been. I guess it's just not me!

[hypnos]

Originally Posted by chanelslungbags

Not really a fan of VW, never have been. I guess it's just not me!

& yet you feel the need to share it with us on the Vivienne Westwood World thread

[softgrey]

From punk grunge to catwalk queen: How New York students are paying homage to Vivienne Westwood's Eighties heyday


By Sadie Whitelocks
Last updated at 2:45 PM on 25th March 2011

Her creations are often the subject of major exhibitions at the likes of London's V&A. But the latest exhibition of Vivienne Westwood's work is the brainchild of a group of students.
Students at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York have paid tribute to the British designer's Eighties heyday with a show charting her work from the period.
Vivienne Westwood: 1980-89 will be the first to focus specifically on her rise from punk grunge to catwalk queen during the Eighties.

Homage: The student-curated Vivienne Westwood: 1980-89 at the Museum at FIT in New York will be the first exhibition to focus on the designer's rise from punk grunge to catwalk queen during the Eighties


Featuring over 40 exhibits, including clothing, photographs and videos, the students hand-picked items from the Museum at FIT's permanent collection.


More...
The show is broken into three sections, titled: In the Press, In the Streets & On TV and On the Runway.

Known for subverting fashion norms, highlights include a unisex ensemble from Ms Westwood's Pirate collection in 1981, and 'Rocking Horse' boots from her 1987 Harris Tweed collection.





Style influence: The designer's creations were worn by musicians like Bow Wow Wow and Boy George Punk (left). Highlights include 'Rocking Horse' boots from the 1987 Harris Tweed collection (right)

Student co-curator, Audrey Chaney explained: 'The 1980s was the time when all of these things happened.

'In 1980 she and Malcolm McLaren had one shop on Kings Road in London, and by 1990 she won the British Designer of the year award.'
With students acting as curators, publicists and researchers, FIT hosts a major exhibition every year as part of the Master of Arts programme at FIT.
The theme of the exhibition was decided by course tutors, but the rest was left to the students.

Costume drama: The exhibition features over 40 designs by Ms Westwood from the Museum at FIT's collection

Miss Chaney said: 'The museum has a great costume collection...so they said, "Okay, Vivienne Westwood — 1980s," and they brought out all her garments and accessories they have in the permanent collection and showed them to us.'

The first major retrospective of Vivienne Westwood's work was in 2004 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra.

145 outfits from the early Seventies to the present day were shown from the designer's own personal archive and the V&A's collection.

The FIT exhibition closes six days before the designer's seventieth birthday.
Vivienne Westwood: 1980-89 is at the Museum at FIT until April 2. For more information visit fitnyc.edu

dailymail.co.uk

[dauphine]

I just got a VW coat from a consignment store. It's so good. My first Westwood piece.