1. INTERVIEW INTERVIEW
SHE CREATED ONE OF THE MOST ENDURING
IMAGES OF 2008, COURTESY OF CARRIE
BRADSHAW’S LAVISH WEDDING DRESS IN
SEX & THE CITY: THE MOVIE – only to dismiss
the whole thing shortly afterwards, telling reporters, “I
thought Sex & the City was supposed to be about cutting-
edge fashion. There was nothing remotely memorable or
interesting about what I saw. I left after 10 minutes.”
Known in equal parts for her cutting-edge creations
and her outspoken views on everything from the
environment to prisoners’ rights, Vivienne Westwood
– Dame Vivienne, to give her proper title – has been
Vivienne
stirring up the fashion scene since she started selling
clothes in the 1970s.
The combination of couture and conscience has
proven a heady one; embodied, quite literally in the
Westwood:
beanie hat she’s taken to wearing, emblazoned with the
word ‘Chaos’ – the title of the last collection the 57-year-
old produced for her semi-couture line Gold Label.
This week, as she shows her Red Label at London
Fashion Week, while gearing up to launch her first
standalone store in the Middle East, which opens for
“MY CLOTHES
business in The Gate Village at DIFC this autumn, the
outspoken designer tells Grazia why wearing Westwood
makes more than just a fashion statement.
GIVE YOU CLOUT!”
THE BRIT DESIGNER WITH A PENCHANT FOR
POLITICS IS MARCHING TO THE MIDDLE EAST. CHAOS THEORY
Vivienne Westwood
GRAZIA STANDS TO ATTENTION salutes a new way of
shopping (and thinking)
Words: Nikki Gordon/IFA Photos: Getty Images, Graziano Antar Ferrari
signed for
estwood dress de
The Vivienne W le the show
SJP in Sex & The City: The Movie sto
WHAT MAKES YOUR DESIGNS SO DESIRABLE
My clothes are uncompromising in the sense that they are
not trying to sell themselves to you. If you want them, they
make you incredibly strong. But they are not asking you to
want them. When you wear them they say about you, ‘I’m
something to be reckoned with – take it or leave it’.
IS IT HARDER TO SELL CLOTHES DURING THE
CREDIT CRUNCH
I don’t really know too much about the ins and outs of
luxury goods and economic markets, but I do know that
I make clothes that are supposed to last forever. I hope if
someone is going to buy a Westwood item, it’s for life.
46 47

2. INTERVIEW
Marrying politics with
fashion in her A/W ’08
Gold label show
IS FAST FASHION OVER
Someone once asked me what anyone should buy this
season and I replied, ‘People should buy nothing.’ What
I meant was that they should stop to think about what
they really want, removing themselves from the incessant
bombardment of propaganda.
WHY THE ‘CHAOS’ BEANIE HAT
The title of my last Gold Label show was Chaos
Point. Scientists have warned that ecological crisis
has reached tipping point and the destruction is now
irreversible. Others believe the response of human
beings to the crisis can save us provided enough of
us wake up to the emergency. The Chaos symbol
means that nothing is predictable because all the old
patterns of life have gone haywire and only humans
can now steer the planet to avert the ecological crisis.
We only have a few years to guide our spaceship,
Earth, before it tips out of control.
AS WELL AS THE ENVIRONMENT,
YOU CAMPAIGN FOR FREEDOM FROM
GOVERNMENT CONTROL DO YOU AIM TO EMPOWER WOMEN
Arbitrary arrest happened in Stalin’s Russia and was THROUGH DRESS
once the prerogative of kings, which in England led My clothes give people the power to make them feel
to Charles I having his head cut off: it is the mark of sexy – after all they are very feminine. But what is
tyranny. We are all at risk from government. Anyone even more important is that they talk about the body
can be picked up and punished with an indefinite in a way that makes you stand out. There is a relation
control order, without trial, never having had the between you and what you are wearing that is terribly
chance, adequately, to defend themselves. interesting; you are doing something that you have
DOES SOMEONE MAKE A POLITICAL COMMENT
never seen done before, and nobody else is wearing
anything quite like it. They make you look and feel
Viv’s
BY WEARING WESTWOOD DESIGNS important. They give you clout. Picks
They project your personality, and are theatrical in READ:
the sense that they are real clothes, well designed, but WHAT IS THE LEGACY OF YOUR INVOLVEMENT Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley;
they give you a chance to express yourself. They are WITH SEX & THE CITY
Memoirs of Hadrian
inviting – people respond to them and want to talk I have been delighted to notice recently how well by Marguerite
to you. The added bonus is, you are not going to be young girls are dressing, and that they have clearly Yourcenar;
bothered by conservative types coming up to you, been inspired by the film. Madame Bovary
because they won’t. by Gustav Flaubert
SO GIRLS NEED TO DRESS BETTER, THEN APPRECIATE:
The majority of people on the street look quite My favourite painters
Vivienne are Titian, Velasquez
attends the dreadful. They are lazy in their dress and take no time
and also Vermeer.
funeral of to express themselves through clothes. Minimalism I particularly love
Yves Saint is a dominant force because people are so afraid
Laurent, with 17th century Dutch
her husband of committing an error in taste. My clothes allow painting. To look at the
of 16-years, someone to be truly individual. paintings is to enter
Andreas a world. It’s an
Kronthaler, absolute delight.
who is DO PROGRAMMES SUCH AS PROJECT
25-years RUNWAY HELP YOUNG DESIGNERS
her junior We live in an age where young people are flattered
into believing that they can do anything that they
want. It’s not true. You have to have an aptitude
for something. A talent for it. The only important
discipline is self-discipline. Without technique,
self-expression is impossible. ■
* Vivienne Westwood opens at The Gate Village
in DIFC this autumn. The diffusion collection,
Anglomania, is available at S*uce
48