Vivienne Westwood died: she made the rebellion socially acceptable

She was once considered a fashion rebel and the inventor of punk clothes. Then Vivienne Westwood was knighted and became a wealthy businesswoman. Defiance against the establishment remained her trademark to the end.

Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood died in London yesterday at the age of 81. Westwood shaped the fashion scene for more than five decades, was not only praised by critics, but was also very successful commercially.

Westwood is regarded as a pioneer of punk in the fashion industry and made it socially acceptable. In the 1970s she ran a boutique on London’s King’s Road with her partner Malcolm McLaren, manager of the punk band Sex Pistols. Based in Paris in the 1980s, the fashion designer built a global fashion brand that now has stores in Europe, America and Asia.

Orange dyed hair as a trademark

Known for her androgynous cuts, wild pattern mixes and provocative slogans, Westwood is also known for her irreverent attitude toward the establishment. Her hair dyed orange became her trademark. She wasn’t wearing her knickers at a Queen’s ceremony, photos on newspaper front pages showed the next day.

Westwood has always used her popularity for political purposes. She was committed to the environment, animal welfare and sustainability and against nuclear weapons. Wearing a canary-yellow suit, she protested in a cage outside London’s Old Bailey courthouse for the release of Julian Assange, founder of the whistleblowing platform Wikileaks.

Messages of condolences from the musk and fashion scene

Westwood is survived by her husband and co-designer Andreas Kronthaler, 25 years her junior, and two sons, photographer Ben Westwood and Joseph Corré, founder of lingerie company Agent Provocateur.

There were numerous expressions of condolence from the music and fashion scene. Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde tweeted: “The world is already a less interesting place without you. Love you Viv!”