In Memoriam: Dame Vivienne Westwood

Dame Vivienne Westwood passed on December 29th, 2022. A month later, I am still processing the loss. Her passing is a blow to the slow fashion movement. We lost an icon and arguably the person with the biggest soapbox on which to stand and herald the dire need for change in the fashion industry and also the way we engage with it.

Vivienne Westwood the designer has been a personal inspiration since I was a wee child – her obsession with tartan (plaid) matched mine as I learned about my ancestry from my proudly Scottish grandmother.  The same grandmother whose closet unlocked my captivation with fashion and all things textiles, personal style, and fashion. On a personal level, losing Vivienne Westwood  feels akin to losing a grandmother, or at the very least a treasured mentor. Although I never met her, I count her, along with a handful of other people (mostly women), as someone who not only sparked my creativity but provided the ongoing encouragement to continue pursuing a career in fashion.  Even though her encouragement was not in the form of personal compliments or constructive feedback, her continuous perseverance, to stitch with the threads of her own imagination, inspired my own imagination and daydreams.

Vivienne Westwood the activist became an inspiration as I grew more mature and learned of her influence on both the counterculture and mainstream. Her place in the history of punk is fascinating, and as she aged and grew even more vocal in her opposition to consumerism only heightened her allure for me.  She is, of course, the originator of the often used “buy less, choose well, make it last” quote that is found at the core of the slow fashion movement.  She was a happy figurehead for slow fashion, using her platform to highlight and amplify messages of the fashion industry’s negative social and environmental impacts.

In my own personal journey in understanding what is truly sustainable fashion, and not just some greenwashed buzzwords, I struggled sometimes to understand how her values aligned with the theatricality of the collections she would send down the runway (see also, hard for the average person to wear).  There is a juxtaposition, of course, where personal style and comfort between humans intersects.  No two people will feel the same way about the same garment, even if they are identically shaped and colored. While I love her designs as inspiration, I personally would struggle to find occasion to wear nearly everything she made. I once got close to purchasing a dress from her line, I had no idea where I would wear it even as I tried it on, but the aspiration of wanting to own a piece of her imagination was overpowering. It didn’t fit, so it stayed in the store and hopefully went home with someone who would let it out of the closet for more than one occasion.

In thinking about the legacy of Dame Vivienne Westwood, I am left with these thoughts:

1. She inspired me to pursue my own style, regardless of how others perceived me.
2. She was unapologetic about her values, and shouted them loudly into every ear that would hear them.
3. She was energetic and playful until the end. Because what is the point if it isn’t any fun?

Featured image by Alasdair McLellan, via The Gentlewoman, Issue 9, Spring & Summer 2014