Vivienne Westwood, the provocative designer of punk, has died at the age of 81

Like the person who dressed the Sex Pistols, Vivienne Westwoodwho died Thursday at the age of 81, was synonymous with punk rock from the 1970s, a rebelliousness that remained the hallmark of an openly political designer who became one of the biggest names in British fashion.

“Vivienne Westwood has died today, peacefully and surrounded by her family, in Clapham, South London. The world needs people like Vivienne to make a change for the better,” her fashion firm said on Twitter.

Climate change, pollution and his support for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange were captured in protest T-shirts or banners that his models wore on the catwalk.

In 1989, she dressed up as then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for a magazine cover and drove a white tank near the country house of later British leader David Cameron to protest fracking.

In 1992, Queen Elizabeth awarded the rebellious designer the Order of the British Empire medal. But always ready to shock, Westwood showed up at Buckingham Palace without any underwear, showing photographers a revealing twist of her skirt.

“The only reason I’m in fashion is to destroy the word ‘conformity,'” Westwood said in her 2014 biography. “Nothing is interesting to me unless it has that element in it.”

Instantly recognizable with his orange or white hair, Westwood made a name for himself in 1970s London punk fashion, dressing the genre-defining punk rock band.

Together with the Sex Pistols’ manager, Malcolm McLaren, he defied the hippie trends of the time to sell rock’n’roll-inspired clothing.

“There was no punk before Malcolm and I,” Westwood said in the biography. “And the other thing you should also know about punk: it was a total blast.”

“buy less”

Born Vivienne Isabel Swire on April 8, 1941 in the English town of Glossop, in the Midlands, Westwood grew up in a time of rationing during and after World War II.

The recycling mentality permeated his work, and he repeatedly recommended to lovers of moda “choose well” y “buy less”. Since the late sixties, she lived for about thirty years in a small flat in South London and commuted to work by bicycle.

After his work with the Sex Pistols, Westwood was in his forties and slowly began to carve out his own path in fashion.

His influential designs, often inspired by history, include corsets, Harris Tweed suits and taffeta dresses.

your line “Mini-Lilies” from 1985 introduced the short puffed skirt and a more fitted silhouette. Her towering platform shoes captured world attention in 1993, when the model Naomi Campbell he bumped into a couple of them on the catwalk.

“My clothes have a story. They have an identity. They have character and purpose,” says Westwood.

“That’s why they become classics. Because they continue to tell a story.”

The brand Westwood It flourished in the 1990s, with fashion personalities influxing to its Paris shows and stores opening around the world selling its clothing, accessories and perfume lines.

Westwood used her public profile to advocate for issues such as nuclear disarmament and to protest anti-terrorism laws and public spending policies that hurt the poor.

At the closing ceremony of the 2012 Paralympics in London, she displayed a large banner reading “Climate Revolution,” often turning her models into runway eco-warriors. “I’ve always had a political agenda,” Westwood told fashion magazine L’Officiel in 2018. “I’ve used fashion to challenge the status quo.”