who silenced the queen ?

Vivienne Westwood, Monarchy and Anarchy

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On a small cold island, there was a queen with duties and obligations. Used to making many speeches, the queen always appeared to her people in elegant and respectful dresses, synonymous with her formality and tradition. One day, however, the queen was silenced by the most common of objects: a safety pin. Who silenced the queen? The mother of punk fashion, Vivienne Westwood.

Vivienne was born during World War II in rural England, with a seamstress mother and a shopkeeper father. At eight years old, she had her first sewing lesson, at twelve she witnessed the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and at seventeen she moved to the capital to study at the University of Westminster, only to drop out a semester later for feeling she lacked talent for the arts.

She became a primary school teacher and lived a relatively ordinary life in Thatcher's England, until her encounter with Malcolm McLaren ignited her full inclination towards the world of fashion and punk. In response to the conservative politics of the time, punk became a countercultural movement emerging from the underground scene. It preached anti-consumerism, anarchy, and anti-totalitarianism, aspects that greatly appealed to Westwood, always subversive and steadfast.

As an emerging designer, Westwood needed a direct image that represented her principles, and thus the iconic royal orb logo surrounded by Saturn's rings was born. As her first clients, Westwood began to conceptualize the wardrobe for the punk band Sex Pistols, leveraging DIY (Do It Yourself) techniques by customizing suits, dyeing and cutting T-shirts, creating slogans, and, of course, printing T-shirts with the queen's mouth pinned shut alongside the lyrics of the song 'God Save The Queen,' a parody of monarchic perfection.

As a true fashion transgressor, Westwood understood the importance of youth culture and gender in clothing and deliberately decided to break all these conventions. She opened her shop in 1971, naming it 'Let It Rock,' influenced by Teddy Boy style. In 1972, the shop was renamed 'Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die,' with rock 'n' roll influences, and in 1974 it transformed into the iconic boutique 'SEX,' featuring clothing inspired by BDSM & Fetish wear.

Ten years after the debut of her shop, Westwood created her first 'Pirate' collection, bringing 18th-century neo-romanticism to the runways and solidifying her name in both critics' and the public's acclaim.

In 1985, one of her greatest collections took the world by storm, the Mini Crini. Entirely inspired by the late Victorian era, where crinolines (cage-like structures to volumize skirts) and corsets were prevalent, Westwood revamped these models and introduced underwear as outerwear.

The turn of the century was also a significant turning point in Vivienne's life – and career. She partnered with Melissa, and during São Paulo Fashion Week 2008, they launched the Mary Jane and Ultra Girl shoes. In 2012, she turned the closing ceremony of the Paralympics into a manifesto runway show called 'Climate Revolution,' in 2014 she joined forces with Greenpeace for the 'Save The Arctic' campaign, and she explained to The Guardian that 'climate change, not fashion, is now my agenda.'.

In 2016, Westwood appointed Andreas Kronthaler – her creative partner since 1993 – as the brand's creative director, guided by the motto 'buy less, choose well, and make it last.' Four years later, the jewels and corsets from the 'Mini Crini' collection returned to the mainstream due to a desire for a more fantastical and exuberant world, a direct response to the harsh reality of 2020.

From destroyed clothing and checkered patterns to lettering on T-shirts, even designers like John Galliano and the film 'Cruella' (2021) draw inspiration from the imperfection, rebellion, and avant-garde of Vivienne Westwood's fashion. The entire life of the British dame was inspired by the old to revolutionize the new, and even though she passed away on December 29, 2022, her complete irreverence, constant defiance of common sense, and true aversion to stuffiness live on forever.