Vivienne Westwood: At 71, Still Not Done Provoking
By ERIC WILSONMarch 25, 2013
Punk is back in the fall collections
— spikes at Donatella Versace and Anthony Vaccarello, garbage bag
dresses at Gareth Pugh — which is not surprising given that the impact
of the punk movement in fashion is the subject of an upcoming Costume
Institute exhibition. It all goes back to Vivienne Westwood, who
designed for the Sex Pistols and whose collaborations with Malcolm
McLaren in the 1970s will feature prominently at the Met. At 71, she
remains as provocative as ever while continuing to design collections
shown in London and Paris.
Ms. Westwood is a spokeswoman for the environmental group Climate
Revolution, so a discourse on the connection between the financial
system and climate change is the price of admission to an interview with
the designer. You can read her thoughts on that subject at her blog, but here are excerpts from a conversation with Ms. Westwood this week about punk, and continuing to push buttons:
Q. “Punk: Chaos to Couture” is the subject of the next Costume Institute exhibition. What do you think of punk as a subject for a major museum exhibition? A. I’ll tell you the truth, not that it is a very
good idea to tell the truth about things, but I was very cross with the
Metropolitan Museum for not taking my retrospective. [An exhibition
about Ms. Westwood was at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in
2004.] I think it’s ridiculous. I’m also rather bored with American
journalists. Every time punk comes up, they think of me as a kind of
trophy. ‘Oh, we know Vivienne, she’s great.’ And then you hear nothing
from them in between. You know, America is an isolated territory, with
all those editors who think they are so powerful. Mostly, I think they
are rubbish. And I don’t like fashion magazines either. Someone asked me
the other day, if I really was a world controller, what is the first
thing I would do. I would stop advertising.
[A lengthy aside about Climate Revolution.]
The reason why I am proud of my part in the punk movement is that I
think it really did implant a message that was already there. The
hippies told it to me, but punk made it something cool for people to
stand up for, which is that we do not believe government, that we are
against government. Q. Malcolm’s widow recently complained that
the exhibition might include some inaccuracies, because of counterfeits
of the Seditionaries designs. What do you think is the biggest
misconception about the punk movement today? A. That woman sees everything with a distorted point
of view. She sees Malcolm as the king of the universe. All his friends
left him because he wished to be protected by this lady. She’s this
fanatical person about him. Who would want to live their life with their
most fanatical fan? Q. But about the exhibition? A. That happens always, doesn’t it? There are people
who still do sell things they say were produced from their time spent
with me. If they’re fakes, they are so bad people should be able to see.
Malcolm cared about protecting his … whatever it was he thought it was.
He tried to protect the world against me. He was not a nice person.
Very messed up. Q. We’re seeing a lot of punk on the runways this season. What do you think? A. I don’t follow fashion. I really don’t. I’ve
never been interested in it. I think punk has entered into the
iconography of fashion. In 1970 or 1969, the shop we have, Worlds End at
430 Kings Road, that was Mr Freedom. I went in there and bought a pair
of tight leopard-printed velvet trousers. I had never seen anything like
it. It was the most amazing thing. Punk says rebellion. Now every child
has seen this. Q. Can fashion still provoke? A. Probably not. There’s such a communication of
stylists. They weren’t very important once. The general public didn’t
even know about them. They were paid very badly and worked for two weeks
getting a shoot together and got a quarter of what the hair person got.
Fashion has become so whatever. I don’t think there are any stones left
to unturn. Q. At your London show, you came to the defense of Julian Assange. In Paris, it was saving the Arctic. Why should anyone care what a fashion designer has to say about politics? A. I’m very lucky. The public happens to like me.
Maybe they like me because I use every opportunity to talk about
injustice. I didn’t consider myself a fashion designer at all at the
time of punk. I was just using fashion as a way to express my resistance
and to be rebellious. I came from the country and by the time I got to
London, I considered myself to be very stupid. It was my ambition to
understand the world I live in. Q. And to provoke? The latest I read was that you criticized Kate Middleton for wearing too many clothes. A. I didn’t criticize her. I said that it would be a
wonderful thing for her to wear her clothes more than once. She’s
getting this wonderful look, but if she has a red look today, why does
she have to wear the blue look tomorrow? It’s just by way of an example
to other people that you should buy less. Don’t buy so many clothes. Q. You must love our first lady, who is famous for recycling her clothes. A. Don’t talk about her. It’s dreadful what she wears. Q. What? A. I don’t want to talk about it. Really, I can’t.
She’s a very nice looking lady, but it’s a nonstarter regarding clothes
that suit her. Jackie Kennedy was a different matter altogether. It just
has to suit her and be something that makes a human being more
glamorous. That’s what fashion is there for. It’s there to help, not
just to make you look more conservative.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
Vivienne Westwood: 'I do things that irritate people'
The 73-year-old designer and campaigner on what drives her, the last time she cried and why she eats so much lettuce
Vivienne Westwood: 'Human beings have the potential to evolve and become more and more wonderful because they are aiming at that perfection.' Photograph: Andy Gotts, MBE
I was anti-religious at one time. I'm not any more. The concept of God and the divine is very important. Human beings have the potential to evolve and become more and more wonderful because they are aiming at that perfection.
I do things that irritate people. I'm always saving things, telling people to turn taps off. My husband, Andreas, used to get fed up with me, but he's got a lot better. Some people turn on the tap before they've even put their toothpaste on [the toothbrush]. I only have a mouthful of water at the end.
I have not cried since I lived with Malcolm [McLaren, her ex-partner]. Malcolm needed me to cry every day. He just couldn't leave the house without trying to make me upset. So I stopped. I envy people who can cry.
I was born at a good time to try to understand the world. I'm aware of things that someone 100 years ago wouldn't be, such as the fact that the human race faces mass extinction pretty soon if we don't do anything. During the war, things were precious – growing up, we weren't consuming all the time. And fortunately for me the education system hadn't collapsed.
My favourite food is lettuce. Andreas and I eat one a day between us on average. I make a very good, simple salad dressing. Garlic, oil, lemon, a bit of sugar and a bit of bouillon powder – it's always different. We just love it.
Character is there from birth. The way my sons looked at me when they were first born is the same way they look at me today. My children are honourable people. They really would never shit on anybody.
The world's forgotten more than it knows. Consumption is about throwing away the past. But to engage with the world we must engage with the past through art and reading. It gives you a critique of your own life, and you realise: "I'm not doing anything. Human beings are capable of amazing things and I'm just sucking things up."
I will never vote Labour again. Not unless they get a true green economy programme in place. I said I would vote Conservative after Blair took us into Iraq. Recently I've been voting for the Green Party: they're the only ones saying something different. Ukip is the same as the others – except they don't like elephants, apparently.
Stella McCartney and I want to campaign together more. She just signed our letter demanding the government doesn't go ahead with fracking until people are made aware of the facts.
I have to like it – that's the only criteria I have when I design.
My campaigning hero is Julian Assange. He's done more to affect public opinion than anyone else. Most people don't think change is up to them; they think somehow it will just happen.
I've avoided my biography for a long time. But Andreas convinced me to do it. It's important for some people to tell you about their past, but I don't live in mine or really go over it much.
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