British designer Vivienne Westwood, whose punk and new wave-inspired garments made her a fashion icon, has died. She was 81.
Westwood’s eponymous fashion house announced her death on social media platforms, saying she died peacefully surrounded by family. A cause of death was not disclosed.
“The world needs people like Vivienne to make a change for the better,” the fashion house wrote on Twitter.
USA TODAY has reached out to Westwood’s representative for comment.
Westwood’s fashion career began in the 1970s with the punk explosion, when her radical approach to urban street style took the world by storm. But she went on to enjoy a long career highlighted by a string of triumphant runway shows in London, Paris, Milan and New York.
The name Westwood became synonymous with style and attitude even as she shifted focus from year to year. Her range was vast and her work was never predictable.
Born in Glossop, England, on April 8, 1941, Westwood was a schoolteacher before marrying Derek Westwood in 1962. The couple would later divorce in 1965.
Westwood formed a professional partnership with Malcom McLaren, who became known for managing punk rock band the Sex Pistols, in 1965. The pair headed Let It Rock, a secondhand shop that sold 1950s vintage clothing and rock records from McLaren’s collection, and later opened the boutique Seditionaries.
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Westwood, a self-taught designer, also made clothing designs based on McLaren’s ideas, which included distressed t-shirts emblazoned with “shocking antiestablishment slogans and graphics” and bondage pants inspired by sadomasochistic aesthetics.
Westwood eventually struck out on her own as a designer, opening various boutiques and producing annual menswear and womenswear collections. She also designed bridal clothes, footwear, cosmetics and perfumes.
Despite her creations’ subversive edge, Westwood often drew inspiration from the past, including historical British dress pieces and the classical art of Jean-Honoré Fragonard, François Boucher and Thomas Gainsborough.
Her runway shows were always the most chic events, drawing stars from the glittery world of film, music, and television. But Westwood spoke out against consumerism and conspicuous consumption, even urging people not to buy her expensive, beautifully made clothes.
“I just tell people, stop buying clothes,” Westwood said. “Why not protect this gift of life while we have it? I don’t take the attitude that destruction is inevitable. Some of us would like to stop that and help people survive.”
Her disdain for consumerism aside, Westwood’s eye-catching style became a pop culture darling in its own right. Sarah Jessica Parker famously wore a Westwood wedding gown as Carrie Bradshaw in 2008’s “Sex and the City,” while pop star Rihanna donned a black, silk taffeta corset to the annual Victoria’s Secret fashion show in 2011.
Westwood’s artistic contributions earned her national recognition in her native England, with the designer becoming an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1992 and later Dame Commander in 2006.
As her stature grew, she seemed to transcend fashion, with her designs shown in museum collections throughout the world. The young woman who had scorned the British establishment eventually became one of its leading lights, and she used her elite position to lobby for environmental reforms even as she kept her hair dyed the bright shade of orange that became her trademark.
Westwood is survived by her second husband, Austrian-born Andreas Kronthaler, and her two sons.
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Contributing: Gregory Katz, The Associated Press
