Vivienne Westwood exhibited a unique taste for fashion and design from a very young age. Her passion for clothing and individuality became key characteristics of her future career in the fashion world. Despite potential hardships during her childhood, Vivienne Westwood emerged as one of the most influential figures in the fashion industry, and her creative contributions have left an indelible mark on the industry.
My parents hardly ever gave me pocket money. But everything I had, I spent on shoes and fabrics. I could sew myself a dress from just one meter of fabric.
As far back as I can remember, I knew how to make things with my own hands. At the age of five, I could sew shoes – you just need to understand where to start.
I never dreamt of being a fashion designer. I got into it to help my boyfriend, Malcolm McLaren, who was starting to work with the Sex Pistols at the time.
What does it mean to be a punk? I think I’m a punk because I’m a fighter. Character is something you’re born with, and I’ll always be a fighter; I can’t be any other way.
The hippies politicized my generation. The death, destruction, and corruption in the world at that time deeply saddened me. That’s what I wanted to crush; that’s what it all meant to me. The movement itself at the time was just simple dissent, but I invested much more meaning into it.
I don’t read glossy magazines unless they have something written about me or if someone comes up and says, ‘Take a look.’
In my view, clothing expands your life experience.
Clothes say a lot about your character and personality. People can remember you by a great coat or hairstyle, but that’s better than being one of the faceless crowd that nobody even notices.
People think that plain clothing without any statement enhances them. But that’s not true, and it doesn’t even work for someone like Christy Turlington (American supermodel). No, I don’t want to see Christy Turlington in jeans and a T-shirt. If you’re lucky enough to be born with extraordinary beauty, why not be a goddess?
My clothing especially suits women with exceptional figures. It accentuates their forms, and they like it. Take someone like Jerry Hall (American model and actress).
Buy less, choose better, and do it yourself.
I’m a humble little designer, but I have my own company, my own business, and no one tells me what to do. If something avant-garde comes out of it, great! Fashion helps people feel important, and that’s a very sexy feeling.
I’ve always dated men who intellectually stimulated me. That’s what I needed.
My current husband gives me the same. He’s much younger than me, but oh my, he’s an extraordinary thinker, simply wonderful!
I love being among inspiring people. But I don’t like bodybuilders.
I have a reputation as a sex maniac or something like that. I want to say that it’s all untrue. I don’t prioritize sex, as Jean Shrimpton (English model and actress) once said: ‘Sex was never on my priority list.’
I’m perfectly content with myself and my appearance. Honestly, I think I look better now than ever before.
The older you get, the richer your life becomes. It’s incredible.
I don’t compete with other women. In my youth, maybe there was something like that, but now, if I walk into a room and see Pamela Anderson looking stunning, I’ll just be happy – I don’t need to be in the spotlight. Sometimes I end up there due to my nature, but generally, I’m always pleased when someone else shines, when someone has done something amazing.
People talk a lot about the midlife crisis. I went through mine at 30; that’s when I stopped worrying about no longer being a sexual object.
In my youth, I was very successful. I looked amazing. But I remember once seeing Brigitte Bardot in a film and thinking I would never be as good.
I would like to tell people the following: buy less, choose more carefully. My collections are about that.
If you like something but it’s beyond your means, don’t rush to buy something slightly less cool at half the price. Don’t do that.
You should invest in culture, not in consumption. When I taught fashion in Berlin, I used to send my students to art galleries and always asked them: “If a fire alarm goes off as soon as you leave this room, which painting would you run to save?” After six months, you won’t pick that same painting. You continuously refine your taste, learn to distinguish truth from deception. You think, make decisions, form your own opinions—all thanks to culture.
In my opinion, fashionable mass-market is just dreadful. Those things are not attractive at all; people have never dressed so poorly. Among the models, there’s a French girl who occasionally participates in my shows; she has an amazing body. So, she comes to London dressed from head to toe in cheap clothes, and I tell her every time that we need to stop this. It’s better to dress in second-hand stores than in mass-market, where all the items are the same.
What I truly love about the human race, what makes me fall to my knees, fold my hands in prayer, filled with ecstasy and love, is the arrival of geniuses on Earth. Mozart, for instance. Or Chinese civilization: just think, a Chinese calligrapher spends a whole 30 years mastering their craft—that’s how long it takes to transmit what’s in their soul through their hands. To me, it’s simply incredible!
If I were to live my life again, I would learn Chinese and pursue calligraphy. In this art lies the secrets of the universe.
I would like to be the last person on Earth, I would like to experience what that’s like.
I don’t need any monument. I just want to disappear. Definitely like that, definitely, definitely.
