2.27.2008

vivienne in pink




Vivienne Westwood, arguably the most influential British fashion designer of the twentieth century, revels in incendiary provocation and a defiance of convention, but nonetheless finds beauty and inspiration in the past. This apparent contradiction, to attempt to upset the status quo while clearly having a consciousness of tradition and history, made Westwood the most representative designer of The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute's 2006 exhibition AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion. Given Westwood’s violation of expectations, it's really no surprise that the designer so associated with torn T-shirts, bondage jackets and punk rock (see last image, below) is also capable of creating astonishingly rigorous examples of tailoring and dressmaking.




At the time, Westwood said that this dress was her most important work to date. Comprising a beautifully constructed and boned bodice as its base, the gown has been draped, fitted and spiraled around the body in one unbroken length. Yes, one unbroken length. It is an aesthetic marvel, all the more important for the virtuosity of Westwood’s approach, at once conceptually reductive and technically audacious. While the gown might evoke the French haute couture of the 1950s and an attendant impression of retardataire elegance, Westwood’s subversion is in her breaking of any prior conventions of draping and dressmaking.




Yowzah.




:images metropolitan museum of art; vivienne westwood (british, b. 1941). “propaganda” dress, fall/winter 2005–06. lilac silk faille; shoes, autumn/winter 1990. hot pink crocodile-embossed patent leather.

11 comments:

Luisa Perkins said...

Covet, covet, covet. How glorious.

Jane Flanagan said...

Fabulous!

Anonymous said...

Oh how utterly, utterly beautiful!

Lori said...

Great post! I've always loved Westwood's work - it's wonderful how she continues to evolve her style in new and unexpected ways.

Jen said...

I love her work and these images were gorgeous.

studio wellspring said...

she is such a diva ~ i saw her work when it came to the de young in sf and was completely enthralled all afternoon to amongst it all.

katiedid said...

I was lucky to have gotten to see the exhibit of her work at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. It was really amazing! She is really a cutting edge artist.

blah said...

Diana - I love this 1st dress - one forgets that Vivienne does numbers like this :-)

ALL THE BEST said...

I love VW and that dress is just fabulous!!

Brilliant Asylum said...

Project Runway's Rami can bow down. I would love to see him drape something so fabulous.

The black and white chevron pattern ball gown in the background is gorgeous too.

Joanna Goddard said...

wow, amazing.