Dame Vivienne Westwood was born Vivienne Isabel Swire. She was born in the town of Glossop, Derbyshire in England on April 8, 1941. She grew up in a family who had to work hard to make ends meet. Her father was a cobbler and her mother found work at a cotton mill.
In 1958, when Vivienne was 17 her family moved from Glossop, Derbyshire to Harrow, Middlesex. Here she enrolled at a teacher training school while working at a factory to help pay her way through school.
In 1962, at the age of 21, Vivienne married Derek Westwood and they had a son named Ben. While married to Derek she worked as a teacher.
By 1965 her marriage with Derek had dissolved. Not long after her divorce she met 18-year-old Malcolm Mclaren. Together they had a son named Joseph. …show more content…
Westwood’s designs entailed a combination of leather, chains, rubber-wear, bondage gear, safety pins, zippers, and straps.
People of the era that were interested in this type of fashion also had outrageous hair and makeup. Printed t-shirts with inappropriate pornographic images were also popular.
Westwood and McLaren’s focus shifted to another fashion idea. In 1974 they renamed the store from “Let it Rock” to “Sex”. They decorated the interior of the store with pornographic graffiti, hung rubber curtains, and stocked it with sex and fetish wear. The use of these elements gave their store an overall intimidating and shocking effect.
In the early 1980’s McLaren and Westwood wanted to change things up. Their shop was again remodeled and renamed “World’s End”. They wanted the inside to resemble a sailing ship with small windows, a low ceiling and a sloped floor. The front of the store had a large clock displaying 13 hours with the hands moving quickly back in time.
Their idea behind the remodel came to the surface because they wanted to get out of the dark feeling in England and do something more historical and romantic.
Out of the new shop ideals came The Pirate Collection, which was displayed in Westwood and McLarens first runway