Hey everyone, welcome back to Threaducation. Today I'm back with what I believe is one of the most interesting stories that I've covered so far. And by now, you already know that I am of course talking about Vivian Westwood. I don't want to give too much away, but it is truly crazy to see where she starts and where she ends up.
So I think that this is one you're really going to enjoy. Now without further ado, let's get into it. This is the Vivian Westwood story. In 1941, Vivian Isabel Swire was born in Derbyshire, England. With her father working as a cobbler and her mother working at a nearby cotton mill.
there was nothing too out of the ordinary about her upbringing. But at the age of 17, that all changed because her family relocated to the greater London area. By this point, Vivienne had already taken an interest in design and so she decided to enroll in the Harrow School of Art, which is now known as the University of Westminster and is one of the most prestigious art schools in all of England. This is the type of opportunity that she never would have had back in Derbyshire, but unfortunately it didn't last all that long.
You see, shortly after enrolling, Vivian realized that a career in the arts may not be as lucrative as she had hoped, and needing to support her family, she decided to drop out after just one semester to pursue something more practical. After seeing an advertisement for typewriting courses, she settled on becoming a secretary and began working at a local factory so she could save up money to pay for these courses. Along the way, however, she changed her mind and instead started studying to become an elementary school teacher.
Soon she was working as a teacher full-time, and while this very well could have been the end of her story, she never let go of her passion for design. During the day, she'd go to school and teach, she'd come home at night to work on jewelry, and on the weekends, she'd head to Portobello Road Market in London to sell her creations. She wasn't making a ton of money, and I wouldn't even really call this the start of her fashion career, but this was her way of keeping the dream alive, and that's all that really mattered.
Now all of that said, there was still a voice in the back of Vivian's mind pushing her to settle for a more practical life. and in 1962 this is what led her to marry Derek Westwood. Derek was working as an apprentice at a local factory and while the two of them got along just fine, Vivian has since gone on to say that she didn't really want to marry him but was afraid of giving up a sure thing.
So they did get married and a year later they actually had a son together but she herself admits that she quickly became bored of her new domestic lifestyle. On paper everything was going great but deep down she knew that she wasn't reaching her full potential in life. she knew that she was in need of a drastic change. Vivian Westwood's life changed forever when her brother, Gordon Swire, introduced her to one of his closest friends, Malcolm McLaren. In many ways, Malcolm was living the life that Vivian had always wanted to live.
He was an art student in London, He worked at a punk fashion boutique called Paradise Garage, and his greatest passion was rock and roll. It sounds cliche, but he truly was a free spirit, and that's what Vivian wanted for herself. With that in mind, the two of them quietly kindled a relationship, and in 1965, she divorced her husband Derek so that she could be with Malcolm. Following their divorce, Vivian has always spoken very highly of Derek as a person, suggesting that they simply weren't the right match.
And it's no secret that she decided to keep his last name. Either way, she was now with Malcolm, and it gave her the freedom to become who she'd always wanted to be. She was still working as a school teacher, but he gave her the sense of excitement in her life that she'd been looking for.
Little did they know, however, that this was just the beginning. You see, in 1971, Malcolm and his friend Patrick Casey took over Paradise Garage, meaning that the boutique was now in their full control. The first move that they made was renaming the boutique to Let It Rock, which they felt spoke more closely to the store's rock and roll-minded customer base. In fact, their intention was for the store to cater directly to members of the Teddy Boy subculture. Teddy Boy subculture is the term used to describe the British youth from this time period who were deeply immersed in the world of rock and roll.
Beyond their shared love of music, this meant a collective spirit of rebelliousness and a very distinct way of dressing that included draped jackets, pencil skirts, leather, clunky shoes, and an all-around dark color palette let's also not forget to mention a very specific somewhat questionable hairstyle the point here is that fashion was a key part of the teddy boy movement and malcolm mclaren wanted to be at the forefront of it where does vivian fit into all of this? Well, she was the one designing a lot of the clothes that they sold in the store. This was her first real foray into becoming a designer, but she had a great sense of the style that people were looking for. For the most part, she was just making graphic t-shirts, but what set hers apart was how provocative they were.
In fact, they were so provocative that I can't really show too many of them here, but let me just say that she had no problem pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable. And also let me say that she wasn't just doing this for shock value. Each piece had some underlying social or political commentary, and this is something that would go on to become a recurring theme in much of her work. Even today, she's very outspoken about different social and political issues, so this is clearly very important to her. Now, something I should mention is that Vivian wasn't just making these clothes, she was wearing them too.
And as a matter of fact, she changed her entire style. This is when she first cut and bleached her hair, and this is the look that she would go with throughout the early part of her career. It may have been a bit radical, but that was okay because she had officially decided to quit her job as a teacher.
Earlier in her life, she feared that a career in the arts wouldn't be reliable, but she had finally come to the realization that she'd never really know unless she tried. So just like that, Vivian Westwood became a full-time designer. As she settled into her new role, she moved beyond t-shirts and began designing punk-inspired jackets, dresses, and shoes.
This was great, but the more that she grew and developed as a designer, the more she started wrestling with the store's identity. As we just discussed, the reason that the store became popular in the first place was because of Teddy Boy's subculture. But Vivian had the foresight to realize that this was going to be a fad and she even disagreed with some of the subculture's ideologies. To put it simply, Vivian supported Rebellion if it was for a good cause, but the Teddy Boys had come to support Rebellion for the sake of Rebellion. That said, she and Malcolm began thinking of ways to rebrand themselves and in 1973, they decided to rename the store as the Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die.
That's sort of a mouthful, and to be honest, it's not very catchy, so in 1974, they decided to rename the store once again, this time to Sex. So sorry Young Thug, I guess you weren't the first one to do this. Now, the name might be simple, but it really was a brilliant marketing move. It's short and easy to remember, but at the same time, it's far more provocative than a name like Let It Rock, and at the end of the day, being provocative is one of the easiest ways to get people's attention.
While that may be true, keeping their attention is what's really important, and Vivian knew just how to do that. Much of her work during this period consisted of distressed garments, abrasive graphics, and exposed stitching. This was too extreme for even the edgiest Teddy Boys, and so this is how she started carving out a cult following that consisted of the grungiest rock fans you can imagine. When designing new pieces, she would basically ask herself, if I were in the mosh pit at a rock concert right now, what would people be wearing? And then taking whatever came to mind, she added her own flair and turned it into a reality.
This is actually a mindset that I think a lot of you up and coming designers can learn from. Obviously you should be making pieces that you yourself like, but stop and ask yourself where you see other people wearing them. Is it at a certain sporting event?
At a concert for a particular sub-genre of music? Is it something they'd wear to work or maybe to school? Because if you put a logo on a shirt, and don't spend any time thinking about when, how, why, and where your customer is going to wear it, then you are going to have a very hard time marketing yourself.
That's exactly why Vivian narrowed down her audience, identified elements of fashion that her audience was attracted to, and used that as her foundation. And hey, it worked out, because within a few years'time, Sex was one of the most popular fashion boutiques in all of England. Fans of rock and roll traveled from every corner of the country to come and visit, and as it turns out, So did a few rock legends in the making.
Despite the success of the boutique, Malcolm McLaren couldn't help but dream of a career in the music industry. Later on in life, he would have a solo music career, but at this point in the story, his real focus was managing other musicians. He got his start by managing an American group called the New York Dolls, and Vivian even had a chance to design some of their onstage outfits. but the group disbanded shortly after, and Malcolm was left looking for his next venture.
Fortunately, he didn't have to look far, because he came to the realization that most of England's best rock musicians were already coming to him. The sex boutique is where they got their clothes, so all he really had to do was hang out in the store and scout out the best talents. That's exactly what he did, and before long, he'd recruited two customers, Paul Cook and Steve Jones, as well as one store employee named Glenn Matlock, to form a band.
Not long after that, he recruited John Lydon, better known as Johnny Rotten, to be the group's frontman, and together they formed the Sex Pistols. I'll note that Sid Vicious would replace Glenn Matlock after his departure from the band in 1977, but the point here is that the Sex Pistols really were born out of Malcolm and Vivian. in store. Not only were all of the members customers and employees, but even the band's name is an obvious reference to the store's name.
So in large part thanks to their controversial song, God Save the Queen, the Sex Pistols quickly exploded in popularity. And in many ways, they became the archetype of what every punk rock band should be. They were rebellious, they made great music, they had a message, and perhaps most important to this story, they dressed the part. You see, much like she had done for the New York Dolls, Vivian designed all of the onstage outfits for the Sex Pistols, and this only makes sense considering the fact that her designs are what brought them all together in the first place.
So as they became more popular, so did her designs, and Vivian herself says that this is when she first started to feel like a real designer. But unfortunately, the meteoric rise of the Sex Pistols was unexpectedly cut short. As I alluded to earlier, Glenn Matlock left the band in 1977 and was replaced by Sid Vicious, another former employee of the store.
With Sid, the band set out on a tour of the United States in 1978, and it was during this tour that things began to fall apart. Plagued by clashing egos and drug use, the members were soon at odds with one another, and for Malcolm, managing them became a nightmare. In fact, things became so bad that Malcolm completely stopped talking to John Lydon, the band's frontman. Almost as soon as the tour ended, John announced that the band would be breaking up, and just like that, the Sex Pistols were no more. To make matters worse, Sid Vicious died of a drug overdose just one year after the breakup, so this put an end to any hopes of them getting back together.
As has been said many times before, a flame that burns bright burns out quickly, and for the Sex Pistols, that was most certainly the case. Despite only being together for a few years, they made an undeniable impact on the culture, and Vivienne Westwood played a major part in that. By designing their outfits, she was helping shape the aesthetic of the entire punk rock movement.
Whether or not people knew her name, they were witnessing the influence of her work, and while this may have been the end of the Sex Pistols, it was just the beginning for Vivian. After the Sex Pistols broke up, Vivian was tasked with walking a very thin line. On one hand, she wanted to build off of the momentum she'd gained working with the group, but on the other hand, she wanted to establish an identity of her own.
Because you have to remember that up until this point in the story, there really was no Vivienne Westwood label. She was just making pieces as she pleased, selling them in the store, or giving them to the Sex Pistols. And she knew that if she wanted to make it as a designer, that had to change.
So in 1980, she officially began her rebranding effort. The first step in this rebranding effort was yet again renaming the boutique. They'd actually changed the name from Sex to Seditionaries when the Sex Pistols first started getting popular, so when Vivian changed it again in 1980, it marked the fifth name change in less than 10 years.
That's a bit much, I know, but fortunately, this would be the last time. Vivian settled on the name World's End, and today, more than 40 years later, that is still the name. With the new name came a new look, and over time, this has become one of the most iconic storefronts in all of fashion.
It's fairly simple, and it's not a bad look. But at the same time, the world's end clock with 13 hours on it inspires a sense of fantasy that is perfectly conducive to Vivienne's style as a designer. Speaking of which, Vivienne made all of these changes while preparing to present her first ever runway show, and in 1981, the wait was finally over. Making her debut at London Fashion Week, Vivienne presented a collection titled Pirates, and the inspiration was exactly what you'd imagine. At first, it might sound a bit random, but if you think about it, it actually makes perfect sense.
If she had presented a collection of dark, tight-fitting clothes, it would have left her further pigeonholed in the world of punk rock fashion. So instead, she opted for loose-fitting silhouettes, bright colors, and bold patterns. Of course, she could have done this without basing her collection on pirates, but you have to remember where she was coming from. Most of her work up until this point had been designing pieces for people to perform in, so she had developed a strong affinity for the art of costume design. This is what gave her the idea to pick a theme for the collection, and it paid off big time.
The collection itself was great, but what really appealed to fashion critics is that it was so different from what everyone else was doing at the time. I mean it was almost as if Vivian just sent the cast of a play down the runway and something like that is sure to get people's attention. It wasn't just a spectacle though, because when you break down the fits there are some objectively strong design choices, and certain pieces like the pirate boots instantly became fan favorites.
All in all, I think it's fair to say that this is the collection that pushed Vivian into the fashion industry spotlight. and in light of their commercial success, they actually opened a second boutique called Nostalgia of Mud. Everything seemed to be going great, but as they were about to find out, this newfound success would have its drawbacks. Something important to understand here is that Vivian Westwood's first few collections were technically labeled as collaborations with Malcolm McLaren. She was in charge of the design aspect, but they were still partners and so all branding and advertisements featured both of their names.
Nevertheless, Vivian is the one who received most of the attention and she has since gone on to suggest that this made Malcolm extremely jealous, to the point where he'd constantly tell her that she was nothing more than a seamstress and that she wouldn't be where she is without him. For their relationship, both business and personal. This was the beginning of the end, and after their fall-winter 1983 collection titled Witches, they officially parted ways.
Now obviously this was a very difficult time for her because she'd been with Malcolm for almost two decades, but in a twist of fate, this is when her career really started to take off. Like I just said, her and Malcolm released a collection titled Witches in 1983, and the theme was of course witches. But what set this collection apart is that it featured a collaboration with the legendary artist Keith Haring. This alone was a big deal, but everything changed when pop icon Madonna was seen wearing the pieces from the collection in a photoshoot.
People in the fashion industry already knew who Vivienne was, but this really helped push her name further into mainstream popular culture. And so heading into the late 1980s, the world was hers for the taking. One of the more interesting things about Vivienne Westwood is that she has a history of adopting a new aesthetic right when her current aesthetic seems to be peaking in popularity. That's what she did when she moved on from Teddy Boy subculture, that's what she did when the sex pistols broke up, and that's what she did in the late 1980s with the release of her Harris Tweed collection.
Leading up to this point, she'd mostly focused on punk fashion and quasi-costume design, but a chance encounter gave her the idea to try a more traditional, high-end look. As she remembers it, she was riding the train one day and happened to see a young girl with a Harris Tweed jacket carrying her ballet shoes in a bag. Harris Tweed is a very specific type of cloth that exploded in popularity during the early 1900s thanks to its reputation of extremely high quality. In fact, it became so popular that in 1909, the Harris Tweed Authority was formed to help differentiate between authentic Harris Tweed and imitation Harris Tweed. If you're curious, authentic Harris Tweed by definition, must be hand-woven by the islanders at their homes in the Outer Hebrides, finished in the Outer Hebrides, and made from pure virgin wool dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides.
The Outer Hebrides are a chain of islands off the coast of Scotland, and I know that this is very specific, but the easiest way to identify real Harris Tweed is by the Harris Tweed Authority's trademarked symbol of authentication, better known as the orb. If you're thinking that this looks familiar, you're right. because this orb directly inspired Vivienne Westwood's now iconic orb logo. You might be wondering how she got away with this, and perhaps why she would do this in the first place, but allow me to explain. Vivienne was inspired by how calm and collected the girl on the train was despite all of the commotion around her, and the Harris Tweed jacket that she was wearing gave her an air of subtle elegance.
But here's the interesting thing. After its explosion in popularity during the early 1900s, The demand for Harris Tweed cloth slowly waned, and by the late 1980s, which is where we're at at this point in the story, it had essentially lost its desirability. However, after seeing this girl, Vivian decided to bring back the past by creating an entire collection with Harris Tweed cloth.
Given her influence in the fashion industry and hoping that this would spur a revival, the Harris Tweed Authority was more than pleased with her decision. And from what I've read, allowing her to reimagine their logo was a way of saying thank you. With that settled, she took the logo, made some sleigh alterations, and added a ring around the orb that is meant to symbolize the rings of Saturn.
Although the two look very similar, that's actually kind of the point. The original Harris Tweed logo represents a history of tradition and craftsmanship, while the rings of Saturn represent a future of exploration and innovation. This logo made its first appearance in the Harris Tweed collection, which debuted in 1987, and from that point forward, it has been one of her signature design elements. Nowadays, when people see this logo, they instantly associate it with Vivian Westwood.
But next time you see it, just remember the interesting backstory of where it came from. So all things considered, the 80s were a very interesting time in Vivian's career. She debuted her first runway show.
She separated from Malcolm McLaren. She launched a number of influential silhouettes, such as the mini crinny. And as we just discussed, she created the now iconic orb logo. But with all of that said, Who would have thought that the 90s would be even more tumultuous?
Vivian went into the 90s looking to take over the fashion industry and she wasted no time at all. In 1990 looking to banned her label, she officially debuted her first menswear collection. Of course, she had designed clothing for men before during her time with the Sex Pistols, but this was pretty big news because it was the first time since launching her label that she'd offered it to the general public. Between this and the womenswear collections that she was putting out, there was no denying that she was one of the most innovative designers in the industry, and in honor of that fact, she was named the British Designer of the Year in 1991. As if that weren't enough, it was just one year later in 1992. that Queen Elizabeth II granted Vivian the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, which is a highly prestigious award only granted to individuals who make significant contributions to British society.
Vivian accepted the honor, but never being one for formalities, she went commando to the ceremony at Buckingham Palace. The only reason we know this is because it was captured by the paparazzi, and while I personally think that the whole thing was blown way out of proportion, the reason I'm mentioning this at all is because it became a major news story. People accused her of disrespecting the Queen, and they used her affiliation with the Sex Pistols as evidence of prior disobedience to the British monarchy. Because to be fair, their song God Save the Queen was basically a diss song about Queen Elizabeth II. But apparently, when Queen Elizabeth heard the news, she wasn't offended at all and actually found the whole thing to be amusing.
And I don't want to jump ahead of ourselves here, but the Queen would actually go on to give Vivian an even higher honor in 2006 by making her a Dame, which is the female equivalent of being made a knight. So clearly there were no hard feelings, and I think that this is just another cool example of how Vivian won't change for anyone, even the Queen of England. Now moving on, 1993 would bring just as much excitement, and I think the best place to start is mentioning Vivian's marriage to Andreas Krantler.
At the time of their marriage, Andreas wasn't really a public figure, and was simply working as Vivian's design assistant. But over the years, he has stepped further and further into the spotlight as the director of her demi-couture line. This line, which is a blend of couture and ready-to-wear, was initially referred to as the gold label, but it has since been renamed to Andreas Krantler for Vivian Westwood.
So anytime you see that, just know it's Vivian's husband. Now the other reason that 1993 was so exciting is because it gave us one of the most iconic moments in runway history. As I'm sure you can imagine, Vivian was at a point in her career where she had no trouble getting the big-name models to walk in her runway shows. And for her fall-winter 1993 show, she cast the legendary Naomi Campbell.
It goes without saying that Naomi is one of the most prolific models ever, and this was right at the height of her career. So as she walked the runway that day, all eyes were on her. But then, every model's worst nightmare became her reality, as she lost balance and fell to the ground.
At first, you might think that her giant heels were to blame, and they certainly did play a part, but according to Naomi, that's not what threw her off. It's a bit difficult to tell from the photos and videos, but the tights that she's wearing here are actually made of rubber, and when her legs accidentally brushed together, the rubber got caught and threw her off balance. This forced her to misplace her next step, and that is what caused her to fall. Although she admits that she was horribly embarrassed, she brushed it off with a laugh as she got back up and continued walking the runway.
It may have been an accident, but photos of her sitting on the ground smiling went viral, and this is now looked back on as one of the most memorable moments in runway history. Vivienne delivered another memorable runway moment just one year later, this time with the help of Kate Moss. Like Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss is one of the most prolific models ever, and this too was right at the height of her career. In a move that shocked everyone, Vivienne sent Kate down the runway eating an ice cream cone while styled as the shirtless Marie Antoinette. Marie Antoinette was the last queen of France before the French Revolution, so I guess that this was yet another tongue-in-cheek jab at European royalty.
And as ridiculous as it seems, I want you to stop for a second and think about how significant this is. If you can get Kate Moss to walk in your runway show, you know that whatever she's wearing is going to be seen everywhere. But rather than using this opportunity to promote her clothing, Vivian used it to make a political statement.
This is something we've seen her do before, but this is undoubtedly one of the more extreme examples. And I think it says a lot about who she is not just as a designer, but who she is as a person. People love Vivian's designs.
But more importantly, they love Vivian. And that's exactly why she's just as relevant today as she was back then. Heading into the 2000s, Vivian began using her platform in the fashion industry to be more vocal about political and social matters. While there are a number of causes that she supports, some of the most prominent on her agenda are climate change and human rights.
Through her label, she's raised large sums of money for different organizations. and has publicly associated herself with different political parties and leaders. One of the reasons that this is so interesting to me, is that there are very few people in the fashion industry as outspoken as she is. she is. Don't get me wrong, plenty of brands and designers align themselves with different political causes, but I can't think of too many that literally go out and protest the way that she does.
I think a lot of the time others are scared that doing something like this would hurt their public reputation, but Vivian could not care less about any of that. And to tell you the truth, she's only getting more popular as time goes on. It's almost amazing really, because on paper, the label seems like it should be antiquated. How is it possible that a brand known for punk rock fashion extravagant dresses and corsets has so flawlessly transitioned into the 21st century?
Well, we've already touched on this, but I think the answer is that she's always true to herself, but at the same time, she's always reinventing herself. I mean seriously, who would have thought that this same woman would someday be designing dresses for British royalty? More than that though, there's something about her work that's just appealing to today's mainstream culture. She designed a dress seen in the popular video game Final Fantasy XV which released in 2016. She has an ongoing partnership with ASICS through which she's created a number of different popular sneakers.
She partnered with Richard Branson to design uniforms for Virgin Atlantic's flight attendants. And perhaps my favorite fun fact of all, she's the one who designed this hat famously worn by Pharrell. He first wore the hat back in 2009 but its most famous appearance was at the Grammys in 2014. And after it received an overwhelmingly positive response on social media, he started wearing it regularly.
And it even made an appearance in his music video for the song Marilyn Monroe, which currently sits at more than 70 million views on YouTube. While this is all pretty recent, the hat, formerly known as the Buffalo hat, actually released back in the early 80s as part of Vivian's Buffalo Girls collection. There's even a photo of Malcolm McLaren wearing one alongside members of the world's famous Supreme team.
As a fashion aficionado, Ferrell went into the World's End boutique, which if you're wondering is still in operation today, and he purchased the hat with no inkling of how viral it would become. While he now has several of these hats, one of the funnier parts about this story is that he sold the original one from the Grammys to the fast food chain Arby's. Arby's paid a price of nearly $44,000 because it resembled their logo, and all of this money was subsequently donated to charity. This is just one of the many cool things that Vivian has been part of during her career, and by now, hopefully you see why I'm such a big fan of her. Objectively speaking, she's a fantastic designer, but I also believe that she's one of the most inspiring designers.
And to me, the craziest part about all of this is that it almost never happened. There was a point in time where Vivian was married, had a kid, and had settled into life as a school teacher. And this leads me to the question, what if she had never met Malcolm?
What if she'd never had the courage to quit her job and go all in on fashion? Stories like these make me wonder about all of the great artists that we'll never know about because they didn't make the jump. I think I speak for everyone in saying that I'm glad Vivian made the jump and now she will go down as one of the most influential designers to ever do it.
Anyways, that is just about everything I wanted to touch on for the Vivian Westwood story. I'm already working on my next video and it's one that a lot of you have been asking for. so make sure that you subscribe and turn on notifications to get updated when it's released. Other than that, thank you all for watching Threaducation, and I will see you next time.