BUYERS GUIDE COL L ECT ING VIVI ENNE WE S TWOOD
A return to the UK as a design base saw the return to a passion for her home country with centuries of history and tradition teamed with the best products home grown manufacturers could create.
The Harris Tweed collection of 1987 dramatically combined the finest Scottish Western Isles fabrics with the smart tailoring of Saville Row. Affectionately parodying the establishment, these clothes evoked the aristocracy, boarding school and country houses, hunting, shooting and fishing and her interpretation showed a silent yet intense sexuality presented as classic British understatement.
Over the following years Vivienne’s themes, style and look became ever more defined as she continued to pillage history for ideas only to swallow them up and re-present them in dramatic and increasingly inventive ways for a new and dramatically growing audience. Her Cut and Slash collection of 1991 drew outlines and details from Tudor clothing with its machine-slashed and frayed denim, silk and knitted wool layers revealing unexpected colour and pattern when worn, while her opulent Portrait collection drew inspiration from the Wallace Collection of 18th century French paintings and decorative arts. Her intention was to suggest that her models had just stepped out of a painting and Vivienne used photographic prints of art works such as Francois Boucher’s ‘Shepherd Watching a Sleeping Shepherdess’ to decorate corsets and shawls.
In the 21st century Vivienne has, at least for the time being, put historicism aside. Her collections have returned to some of the themes present in her early work while always building from her cornerstones of knowledge and understanding. Above all it’s her treatments of fabric and its relationship with the body which allows her style to permeate through to every thing she touches.
As an independent woman in a highly competitive industry she has survived without compromising her ideals despite her vision often being at odds with the rest of the fashion world. Whether she is ridiculing the ruling classes, shocking the public or overtly sexualising women, Vivienne Westwood continues to sustain the ultimate design contradiction of producing the unexpected while defining the spirit of the century.
Do you own any vintage Vivienne Westwood? If so Fieldings would love to see what’s lurking in the back of your wardrobe. Fieldings are looking for consignments of classic designer clothing for their next 20th century Design sale. Please contact Will Farmer or Alison Snowdon for more details.
Will Farmer - Fieldings Auctioneers
will@fieldingsauctioneers.co.uk
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The 1990s also saw an increased confidence in fine and creative tailoring. Vivienne intensely studied the work of Christian Dior noting 'It's beautiful how Dior adapts the masculine look so wonderfully to the feminine body'. Her interest in exaggerating the figure was taken to the extreme in collections such as Erotic Zones collection of 1995 with its padded busts and metal cage bustles. This silhouette was accentuated with upward-sloping shoulders and exceptionally high concealed platform shoes intended as a contemporary interpretation of the power dressing look. This super-feminine look while challenging to sell was adored by the press and featured in periodicals around the world hailed as the best of British.
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