VIVIENNE WESTWOOD manages to make each of her fashion shows a new chapter in her multiple planet-saving manifestos and today’s was no different.
“The Family Tree starts with the marriage of Gaia the Earth Mother and Science. They have two children so we have two branches. The child of the right hand branch is Quantity and it’s what happens when Progress marries Quantity. They produce unlimited Profit and unlimited Consumption and lead to disaster. This is our world.”
Despite her impassioned politics, however, Westwood has never lost her enthusiasm for fashion – her shows in Paris a smorgasbord of fabrics and colours, ideas and shapes that attest to her lifelong career. She simply doesn’t run out of ideas.
Today’s best were oversized corset dresses of stiffened pale lemon, lilac or cream lace. “The corsets we chose to oversize are from the England of Charles II,” she noted. “Those beauties who, in their portraits dressed themselves in the sheets and satin covers pulled from the bed.”
Often the models looked like they’d raided a stately home for its fabric: rich gold brocades were mixed up with rough holey knits; polka dots silks with tousled, flee-bitten blankets over denim hotpants – all caught under the calm of a lilac satin trench. It’s never easy to follow but its fun to watch.
A glittering clutch bag announced “I LOVE CRAP” in gold capitals, big floral platforms and knee-high, bright fishnet socks had a Magic Roundabout cheer about them, while world maps on stretched, ill fitting jersey T-shirts (with checked chiffon skirts attached), reminded us of Westwood’s mission again.
Blue lips and irregular, sharply bunched hair and post-apocalyptic jaundice yellow and red make-up added to the impossible drama, while peacock blue silk cocktail dresses, draped white muslin robes and silver sequins set on nude chiffon added beauty to the anarchy and reminded us just how glamorous this label can be.
“It’s a sort of alternative evening wear,” said Vogue’s Calgary Avansino after the show. “A mass of different colours and fabrics – it was really dramatic.”
The show was accompanied by a live performance by 16-year-old Kyle Nash-Baker of his own piano composition. “I agree with Vivienne that art rests as the centre of human existence” he said in the notes. “The path she maps on the tree, regarding the union of Gaia and Science demonstrates our better chance to navigate the problems that humanity is building for itself.”
There’s such earnest belief in her message, it’s difficult not to want to go along with it.
SEE THE VIVIENNE WESTWOOD SHOW ARCHIVE