Vivienne Westwood: Pioneering fashion designer dies aged 81 - BBC

British manner decorator Dame Vivienne Westwood has died aged 81.

In a connection connected Twitter, her manner location said she died "peacefully and surrounded" by her household successful Clapham, southbound London.

Westwood made her sanction with her arguable punk and caller question styles successful the 1970s and went connected to formal immoderate of the biggest names successful fashion.

Her hubby and originative spouse Andreas Kronthaler said: "I volition proceed with Vivienne successful my heart.

"We person been moving until the extremity and she has fixed maine plentifulness of things to get connected with."

Westwood came to prominence connected the manner country successful the 1970s, with her androgynous designs, slogan t-shirts and irreverent cognition towards the establishment.

She was known arsenic a staunch activistic and brought causes she cared about, similar clime change, to the catwalk.

The decorator was made a Dame for services to manner successful 2006.

Derbyshire-born Westwood worked arsenic a superior schoolhouse teacher, earlier mounting up covering store Let It Rock connected King's Road successful Chelsea with her past spouse Malcolm McLaren successful the aboriginal 1970s.

The concern was aboriginal renamed Sex and successful precocious 1975, McLaren began managing a punk stone set made up of store regulars - the Sex Pistols. They changeable to fame wearing Westwood and McLaren's designs.

Tributes person started to determination successful for the legendary decorator from the satellite of fashion, authorities and showbusiness.

Fashion decorator and Spice Girl Victoria Beckham paid tribute to Westwood, saying: "I'm truthful bittersweet to larn of the passing of legendary decorator and activistic Dame Vivienne Westwood.

"My thoughts are with her household astatine this incredibly bittersweet time."

Singer Billy Idol, who recovered fame connected the London punk euphony scene, tweeted: "RIP it volition instrumentality maine a spot to instrumentality this in…".

The Victoria and Albert Museum, which houses immoderate of her works, described Westwood arsenic a "true revolutionary and rebellious unit successful fashion".

Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan wrote connected Twitter: "A bittersweet day, Vivienne Westwood was and volition stay a towering fig successful British fashion.

"Her punk benignant rewrote the regularisation publication successful the 1970s and was wide admired for however she stayed existent to her ain values passim her life."

Co-leader of the Green Party Caroline Lucas said: "Such a legend, a immense inspiration, brilliantly originative and ever a committed activistic for radical and satellite - my thoughts are with her household and friends - RIP."

Westwood's aboriginal designs were often worn by celebrated faces. They included exemplary Dita Von Teese who dressed successful her purple gown to wed vocalist Marilyn Manson, and Princess Eugenie who wore 3 Westwood designs for the wedding of Prince William and Catherine.

As good arsenic clime change, the decorator was a vocal protagonist for the merchandise of WikiLeaks laminitis Julian Assange, who is warring extradition to the US to look charges nether the Espionage Act. In July 2020, she dressed successful canary yellowish successful a elephantine vertebrate cage informing implicit an Assange "stitch up".