Thistle Gold Hand-Knotted 14x10 Rug in Wool and Silk by Vivienne Westwood

For someone who regularly swatted away the industry that made her, audacious British fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood certainly knew her way around a garment. And she knew how to provoke. “I don’t follow fashion,” Westwood once told the New York Times. “I’ve never been interested in it.” Collectors are certainly interested in her work, and vintage Vivienne Westwood dresses, handbags, lingerie and jackets have become very desirable over the years.

Westwood was born Vivienne Isabel Swire in a village in Derbyshire, in central England, but moved to London as a teen. In the early 1960s, she began to make her own necklaces and other jewelry and met an artist, activist and entrepreneur named Malcolm McLaren. They became involved romantically and she made clothes for him in the style of the Teddy Boys — the city’s music-crazed, occasionally violent teenagers at the time who wore high-waisted trousers and tailored velvet blazers that drew on Edwardian-era fashions.

Westwood and McLaren opened a vintage shop on King’s Road in London in 1971. The flared denim and peasant blouses of the 1960s, then still popular with the “peace and love” set, didn’t hold any weight for Westwood. Instead, she was interested in provocative, edgy apparel. She repaired used clothing and endeavored to create bold new designs from scratch.

Together Westwood and McLaren sold older rock-and-roll records, customized T-shirts with antiestablishment slogans, biker jackets and snug trousers inspired by the Marlon Brando film The Wild One as well as bondage fetish wear. The shop, once called Let It Rock and then Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die before Sex became a more appropriate moniker, evolved into a youth mecca. The DIY garments — zippered tops, burnt tees emblazoned with anarchist messages — flew off the shelves. More notably, it brought punk to the masses.

Westwood was soon dressing the Sex Pistols, a band that McLaren managed, all the while bridging the gap between music and fashion in a manner that has reverberated throughout the industry for decades.

In 1981, the couple’s first fashion show marked the debut of their Pirate collection — a swashbuckler-themed line that sprang from Westwood’s research into Indigenous Americans and the “power garments” of the Louis XIV era. The collection’s ample proportions and cutting-edge tailoring countered punk’s geometry and tight latex fits as well as what rocker Adam Ant called the “Puritanism” that plagued England at the time. The Pirate collection’s enduring influence on the world of fashion as well as the theatrical work of designers such as John Galliano and Alexander McQueen is undeniable.

For the colorful corsets of her 1990 Portrait collection, Westwood drew on 18th-century oil paintings — her models donned the pearl necklaces that have become a social media star and a favorite of influencers and fashion lovers all over the world. For a jacket-and-shorts suit from her Fall/Winter 1996–97 Storm in a Teacup line, the designer used the extreme asymmetry of a tartan mash-up to confront, according to Westwood, “the horror of uniformity and minimalism.”

The self-taught Westwood enjoyed a rapid ascent in fashion, with British society embracing her looks and Vogue immortalizing them in its glossy pages. She garnered accolades for introducing corsets to the runway and dressed Kate Moss and Helena Bonham Carter. And an original Vivienne Westwood wedding dress is featured in 2008’s Sex and the City film.

The fires of political and environmental activism burned brightly for Westwood: She was a Greenpeace ambassador, having designed the organization’s official “Save the Arctic” logo; her clothing brand is committed to using recycled canvas and other eco-friendly materials in the production process; and in 2020, she protested the extradition of Julian Assange by suspending herself in a bird cage outside London’s Old Bailey court. But she will always be the grande dame of British design.

Find an extraordinary range of vintage Vivienne Westwood shirts, shoes, gowns and other items today on 1stDibs.

The Rug Company — a New York-based luxury rug brand — is a leading name in contemporary handmade carpets. Combining exceptional quality with original designs, their skilled weavers employ heritage techniques to create superb carpets that are both precious and unique. Each rug is handmade by accomplished artisans in Nepal — a country renowned for its textiles — and involves the finest of materials. The studio collaborates with over 40 of the world’s most visionary designers, such as Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen and Paul Smith.

The Rug Company — also known as TRC — was founded in 1997 by British interior designer Suzanne Sharp and her husband, Christopher. In the early 1990s, the couple spent time in Saudi Arabia while Christopher was making commercials and documentaries. They visited the local marketplaces and were impressed by the artfulness of the hand-knotted carpets. They realized that the rug industry was ripe for innovation. Upon returning to London, they launched the company to produce Nepalese hand-knotted carpets in a contemporary style while utilizing traditional rug-making skills and ensuring superior and consistent quality.

Suzanne recognized the potential for enriching the company through working with acclaimed designers. TRC’s first collaboration, in the late ’90s, was with fashion designer Marni, which resulted in the company garnering several industry accolades. In 2000, TRC created its Designer Collection and teamed up with ten leading designers, like Nina Campbell, Nicky Haslam and Cath Kidston. The brand has now worked with an unparalleled list of designers, including some unexpected contributors such as art glass designer Dale Chihuly, ceramics designer Eva Zeisel and industrial designer Tom Dixon.

TRC has an impressive client base, from luxury hotel chains like the Four Seasons and Claridge’s to private commissions for dignitaries and celebrities, such as former British Prime Minister David Cameron, former American President Barack Obama, Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker and Courtney Cox.

On 1stdibs, find The Rug Company’s Western European rugs, Central Asian rugs, carpets and more.