Vivienne Westwood Net Worth

How much is Vivienne Westwood worth?

About Vivienne Westwood

British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, widely regarded as one of the most recognizable and innovative fashion designers in the world, is credited with giving the punk rock movement of the 1970s its distinctive appearance.

Her birth name is Vivienne Isabel Swire, and she was born on April 8th, 1941, right in the heart of World War 2. Vivienne was born into a modest household in the English countryside. Her mother supported the family by working at a cotton mill, and her father was a cobbler.

Vivienne claims that her childhood was very different from the life she leads today in London. “I lived in a part of the country that had grown up in the Industrial Revolution. I didn’t know about art galleries…I’d never seen an art book, never been to the theatre.”

She married air steward Derek Westwood when she was just twenty years old, and the couple had a son named Ben. By the 1960s, it seemed as though her entire life was preplanned for her. Even so, Vivienne began working as a teacher at a nearby elementary school.

Vivienne was fortunate that fate had something unique in store for her because it brought her to Malcolm Mclaren, an art student. She had a passionate love affair with Malcolm, which caused her marriage to Derek to end.

Malcolm would introduce her to the late 1960s underground scene in London as their relationship grew. Malcolm began managing the notorious band The Sex Pistols about this time. He would give her a speech on the political influence of art and exhort her to pursue her own unique artistic goals.

“I latched onto Malcolm as somebody who opened doors for me,” Westwood said. “I mean, he seemed to know everything I needed at the time.”

By introducing her early designs, including as bondage pants and fetish-style latex, Westwood would quickly establish herself as the seamstress of the new emergent Punk movement. The New Romantic movement with a pirate theme and the Buffalo Girl outfit are both credited to Vivienne in the London fashion world.

“Westwood’s Pirate and Edwardian looks have been among some of the only worldwide fashion trends to come out of London since the sixties explosion,” Vogue observed in 1983.

Westwood established her first store at 430 Kings Road in London in 1971, and her New Romantic fashions quickly filled it. Vivienne created the Sex Pistols’ recognizable punk aesthetic as her husband began to run the group.

Westwood would undergo a second identity crisis with the launch of The Witches Collection in 1983, losing McLaren in the process. The launch of the new collection would signal the beginning of Vivienne’s lifelong passion with history.

“By examining old clothes,” Westwood told The Russia Journal in 2001, “I found the feeling of movement and also the feeling of heroics. I think that the one link between everything that I’ve done is that it has been heroic.”

One word may describe the new design era for Westwood: pirates. It emerged at the same time as the New Romantics, a new urban art movement that was taking over Europe. Once more, Vivienne gave a movement a face by designing items that were influenced by courtier theater attire and whirls of Egyptian eyeliner.

Vivienne continued to stay ahead of the curve with her tattered tulle and tweed suit designs of the 1990s after her triumph with The Witches line. The haute couture move Westwood made in her career and her continued appreciation of British wools, tartans, and tweeds are reflected in her creations today. In addition to being chosen the best British designer of the year, Vivienne received an OBE from Queen Elizabeth for her contributions to the growth of British fashion.

“Vivienne Westwood is an unbelievable influence,” Anna Wintour, Vogue’s Editor in Chief, told The New York Times.

Following the 2008 release of the movie “Sex and the City” in which Carrie Bradshaw wore a Vivienne Westwood gown to her nuptials with Mister Big, Vivienne Westwood became well-known in America. Westwood makes a cameo appearance in the movie as herself when Carrie, a journalist for Vogue, visits her to get a dress to model for her bridal photo shoot. Following the picture shoot, Westwood sends Carrie the identical outfit as a gift along with a handwritten letter.

Designer Vivienne Westwood is renowned for her outlandish antics on the runway and is regarded as the mother of the Punk fashion trend.

Westwood used the opening of her spring presentation in the Office of the Foreign and Commonwealth as an opportunity to “stick it to the man” during London Fashion Week.

The 71-year-old appeared at the opening of her runway presentation dressed in an unidentified brown cloth and descended the stairs with elegance. Models Alice Dellal and Charlotte Free accompanied the designer down the stairs because she was reportedly unable to see due to the brown material.

Charlotte and Alice each took the brown materials at the bottom stair and transformed them into a flag that they raised above their heads. The slogan on the banner was “Climate Revolution.”

Westwood was unveiled in front of a group of London’s elite wearing only a pair of torn tights, some really tight panties, and a t-shirt that said “Climate Revolution.” Her face had a thick black mustache and a black circle around her eye, as shown in the image up top.

According to Vogue, she has even demonstrated that it is completely possible to make a subversive message with panties.

The conversion of some Hervia stores to Westwood in 2013 was attributed with increasing pre-tax earnings for Vivienne Westwood Ltd. from £527,683 to £5,000,000, and group sales increased from £25.4,000,000 to £30.1,000,000.

Westwood declared in June 2013 that she will forego further corporate growth in order to address environmental and sustainability concerns.