Saturday 21 March 2009





Biography of Vivienne Westwood

1941 Vivienne Isabel Swire born on April 8th in Glossop, Derbyshire.

1957 Moves with her family to London, aged 17, and attended Harrow Art School for one term.

1962 Marries Derek Westwood. Aged 21, becomes a primary-school teacher in Willesden, North London.

1963 Her first son, Benjamin Arthur Westwood, is born.

1965 Marriage to Westwood ends. She meets 18 year old Malcolm Edwards (aka McLaren).

1967 With McLaren, a second son is born, Joseph Ferdinand Corré

1971 McLaren and Westwood's first shop opens at 430 King's Road, London, called 'Let It Rock'.

1972 The shop is redesigned and renamed by McLaren 'Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die'.

1974 Shop name is changed to 'SEX'.

1975 Westwood and McLaren are fined for 'exposing to public view an indecent exhibition'.

1976 430 King's Road is renamed 'Seditionaries - Clothes for Heroes'.

1979 'World's End' opens at 430 King's Road.

1981 March: McLaren and Westwood's first catwalk show, the Pirate collection (A/W 1981-2), shown at Olympia followed by Savage (S/S 1982).

1982 Buffalo (A/W 1982-3) and Punkature (S/S 1983) shown in Paris.Westwood and McLaren open a second London shop called 'Nostalgia of Mud'.

1984 'Nostalgia of Mud' closes. Westwood moves to Italy.Invitation to show the Hypnos collection (S/S 1984) in Tokyo at Hanae Mori's 'Best of Five' global fashion awards, with Calvin Klein, Claude Montana and Gianfranco Ferre.Deal with Giorgio Armani announced.

1987 Westwood designs the Statue of Liberty corset as part of Harris Tweed (A/W 1987-8). It is the first corset to be introduced into outerwear.

1989 November: Westwood's name appears in a list of the world's top six designers in John Fairchild's book Chic Savages (1989), along with Armani, Lagerfield, Saint Laurent, Lacroix and Ungaro.

1989-1991 Appointed Professor of Fashion at Vienna Academy of Applied Arts.1990 First complete menswear collection, Cut and Slash (S/S 1991) shown in conjuntion with Pitti Uomo in Florence.December: The Vivienne Westwood shop opens at 6 Davies Street, in London's Mayfair. It sells the Gold Label collection.Westwood is the first fashion designer to be profiled on London Weekend Television's arts programme, 'The South Bank Show'.

1990 and 1991 Awarded Fashion Designer of the Year by the British Fashion Council.

1991 Chosen to show in the Tokyo Fashion Summit, alongside Christian Lacroix, Isaac Mizrahi and Franco Moschino.

1992 Wedding Gowns introduced to the collections.Westwood is made Honorary Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art.Shop opens 43 Conduit Street, London.Westwood creates a watch design called 'Putti' for Swatch.Exhibits at Musée d'Art, Bordeaux, France.Awarded an O.B.E by her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Westwood marries Andreas Kronthaler whom she met whilst teaching in Vienna.

1993 Appointed Professor of Fashion at the Berliner Hochschule der Künste. Designs 'Orb', a second watch for Swatch.Westwood commissions her own tartan 'Mac Andreas' for the Anglomania Collection, as a tribute to her husband. It appears in the records of the official Lochcarron Museum.

1994 Invitation by Littlewoods catalogue to design a mail-order range.May: Westwood wins the first Institute of Contemporary Art Award for outstanding Contribution to Contemporary Culture.Designs Ancien Régime costumes in carpet to celebrate the founding in 1783 of the carpet company Brintons. 1996 Westwood's menswear label 'Man', is launched in January in Milan. Spring: The three-part Channel 4 series, Painted Ladies, is broadcast.1998 Debut fragrance, Boudoir, is launched. Vivienne Westwood Ltd awarded the Queen's Award for Export in recognition of the company's growing export market.

1999 The Red Label is launched in the United States in February, coinciding with the opening of Westwood's first shop in New York.Accessories lines are introduced including the Eyewear collection and the 'Coquetteries' Body and bath line.

2000 The Museum of London holds the exhibition 'Vivienne Westwood: the collection of Romilly McAlpine from 7 April to 25 June 2000.A second fragrance, Libertine, is launched in Europe.

2001 Vivienne Westwood is the first designer to be honoured at the Moët & Chandon Fashion Tribute held at the V&A.2002 February: Shop opens in Hong Kong, followed by accessories shop in August.

2003 June: Awarded the UK fashion Export Award for Design.September: Shop opens in Milan.October: Shop opens in Liverpool.

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