Vivienne Westwood, 81, Dies; Brought Provocative Punk Style to High Fashion - The New York Times

Fashion|Vivienne Westwood, 81, Dies; Brought Provocative Punk Style to High Fashion

Vivienne Westwood, the decorator who defined the look of punk, utilizing stone iconography, royalty, creation and religion arsenic recurring motifs successful collections that brought a rebellious borderline to British style, and who aboriginal went connected to a agelong vocation successful precocious fashion, died connected Thursday successful the Clapham vicinity of South London. She was 81.

Her decease was announced by her company, Vivienne Westwood, which did not specify the cause.

Ms. Westwood was conscionable 30 erstwhile she and her boyfriend, Malcolm McLaren — who arsenic a euphony impresario would spell connected to negociate the Sex Pistols — opened a store called Let It Rock astatine 430 King’s Road successful London. The business, which had a pinkish vinyl motion retired front, was an unconventional one, selling fetish deterioration and fashions inspired by the Teddy Boy look of the 1950s.

In shaping the look of the era, Ms. Westwood came to beryllium known arsenic the godmother of punk. After her concern with Mr. McClaren ended, she began designing collections nether her ain name, and she soon established an planetary reputation. She went connected to unfastened much stores successful London and crossed the globe; her provocative creations appeared connected supermodels and celebrities and influenced mainstream fashion. The corsets, level shoes and mini-crinis (a operation Victorian crinoline and miniskirt) became her hallmarks.

“People truly subordinate her with punk and that full aesthetic, which is close and however she made her name, but she’s truthful overmuch much than that,” Véronique Hyland, the writer of “Dress Code: Unlocking Fashion From the New Look to Millennial Pink” (2022), said successful an interrogation for this obituary. “She was influenced by creation history, aged maestro paintings. She’s precise focused connected the English contented of tailoring.”

In a memoir published successful 2014 and simply called “Vivienne Westwood,” Ms. Westwood wrote that radical “seem amazed inactive that you tin person been successful punk and past besides beryllium successful couture, but it’s each connected.”

“It’s not astir fashion, you see,” she wrote. “For me, it’s astir the story. It’s astir ideas.”

The King’s Road store ever offered a peek wrong its proprietors’ obsessions involving class, manner and propriety. As the years went on, its sanction often changed — it was variously known arsenic Let It Rock; Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die; Sex; Seditionaries; and World’s End. Its wares often changed arsenic well.

Ms. Westwood made the clothes, which mightiness see shirts with cutout photos of pinup girls oregon studded underwear made from T-shirts with slogans similar “destroy” oregon “Be reasonable, request the impossible.”

“I did not spot myself arsenic a manner decorator but arsenic idiosyncratic who wished to face the rotten presumption quo done the mode I dressed and dressed others,” Ms. Westwood said successful her memoir, which she wrote with Ian Kelly.

Chrissie Hynde, who would aboriginal go the pb vocalist of the Pretenders, was an adjunct astatine the shop. She was quoted successful Ms. Westwood’s memoir arsenic saying that “I don’t deliberation punk would person happened without Vivienne and Malcolm.”

“Something would person happened,” she continued, “and it mightiness person been called punk, but it wouldn’t person looked the mode it did, adjacent successful America. And the look was important.”

A implicit obituary volition follow.