Share FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinWhatsappTelegramEmail 2.7K Vivienne Westwood, UK fashion designer whose five-decade career began in the mid-1970s punk movement in London and who remained devoted to its ethos of anti-establishment agitation throughout her life, has died at the age of 81. Her brand announced the news of her death on its social accounts. At the dawn of the punk era, Westwood, with her then partner Malcolm McLaren, helped to invent its “look” with designs that ranged from shredded T-shirts to bondage suits, emblazoned with anarchist symbols, Nazi swastikas, inverted crucifixes and words like “DESTROY.” Dressing the Sex Pistols, who McLaren managed and promoted, she created a vocabulary of provocation that would not only shake up British fashion of the times, but also go on to define her own runway collections and influence the work of generations of designers to come. More Articles You Would Love VIDEO: Meet The Angolan Designer Who Sells Her African Dresses For $6,000-10,000 Shatta Wale, Efya, Burna Boy And Boss Chicks Turn It Up At Hajia4Real’s Global Wave Party A working-class girl from Derbyshire, who was largely untrained in fashion, Westwood was a primary school art teacher when she met McLaren in 1965 at the age of 24, already a young mother and separated from her first husband. Within a few years, she became the spikey-haired high priestess of punk who commanded London’s burgeoning counter-cultural movement while selling Teddy Boy clothes and bondage jeans from a cult retailer on the King’s Road. That she would ultimately be perceived as one of the most influential British designers of the 20th century, and alternatively as a batty eccentric for her political fulminations against consumerism and capitalism, underscored Westwood’s position as a fiercely independent creator who would help shape but never quite fit into the mainstream. “We wanted to undermine the establishment,” Westwood once said. “We hate it. We want to destroy it. We don’t want it. We were youth against age, that’s what it was.” Read More Like This On Outside Africa Industry Creatives UPCOMING TOP EVENTS! VIEW ALL EVENTS Click Here To Submit stories Email: [email protected] or HashTag #FashionGHANA Share FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinWhatsappTelegramEmail FashionGHANA Admin FashionGHANA.com is a Fashion PR Company, Events planning & management team as well as Africa's leading Fashion Media House. Get Intouch with us and let's see how we can help you grow. info@FashionGHANAcom More For You PICS: Top Influencer Krisline Stars in Fabulous ‘SISTERHOOD’ Images Featuring Sierra Leone Influencer... VIDEO: Watch Rihanna Take A Shot At Learning Congolese Language Lingala Hemadé Unveils ‘SWEET FAMILY’ Collection: A Nostalgic Blend Of Modernity And Vintage Elegance VIDEO: “Indians Used To Burn Their Hair Until They Realized Stupid African Women... VIDEOS: Dubai Loses Tourism Points as City Struck by Disastrous Floods! From Airport... Ugandan Designer Wyne Kirabo Unveils “ROOTS” Collection Featuring East African “Kikoy” Style Lauren Haute Couture Takes Formal Wear To The Next Level In Stunning New... Witness How Maakwah’s Elegant Showcase Stole The Spotlight At Accra Fashion Week 2023 PICS: Women’s Basket Ball Icon Angel Reese Serves Extra Glam In Her Backless... Namibia’s SIRENGA Serves It’s Latest Collection & It Speaks Truth To Urban Style