Vivienne Westwood Harris Tweed Crown
View Similar Items
Vivienne Westwood Harris Tweed Crown
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Dimensions:Marked Size: L (NA)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Material Notes:100% wool
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Just noticed there is one moth hole that we can and will have rewoven. (20 February, 2017).
- Seller Location:Los Angeles, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: U0907174973
Vivienne Westwood
For someone who regularly swats away the industry that made her, audacious British fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood certainly knows her way around a garment. And she knows how to provoke. “I don’t follow fashion,” Westwood once told the New York Times. “I’ve never been interested in it.”
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 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.
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’s dressed Kate Moss and Helena Bonham Carter, and a wedding dress that she created is featured in 2008’s Sex and the City film.
Today, the fires of political and environmental activism burn brightly for Westwood: She is 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 handbags, shoes, evening dresses and other items today on 1stDibs.
- Hermes Red Cashmere Calvi Bucket Hat Size 57By HermèsLocated in Dubai, Al Qouz 2The use of cashmere, the red hue, and the metal brand accent come together to create this Hermes hat. A hat like this one is a style essential that will elevate your accessory game a...Category
2010s French Hats
- LORO PIANA burgundy cashmere MY JOURNEY Hat MBy Loro PianaLocated in Zürich, CH100% authentic Loro Piana My Journey hat in burgundy rabbit hair and baby cashmere. Has been once and is in excellent condition. Measurements Tag Size M Inside Circumference 58cm ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Unknown Hats
- 1930s Red Felt hat with Hand Painted Ski ButtonsLocated in San Francisco, CA1930s Red Felt hat with Hand Painted Ski Buttons. Red felt hat with wide grosgrain band, back opening and Hand painted ski motif buttons.Category
1930s Hats
$199 Sale Price32% Off - 1960s Cardinali Original Sample Burgundy Maroon Avant Garde Velvet 60s Cage HatBy Cardinali, Marilyn LewisLocated in San Diego, CAIncredible original sample CARDINALI late 1960s vintage burgundy velvet cage hat! This rare beauty comes from the original designer's estate (Marilyn Lewis). Soft maroon velvet with ...Category
1960s Italian Hats
- Vintage 1940s Wide Brim Red Straw Hat With Red Velvet Ribbon by Mr LeonLocated in Portland, ORThis is a lovely vintage 1940's Mr Leon the Milan King New York wide brim cherry red straw hat with a red velvet ribbon and bow. This hat has two labels;...Category
1940s American Hats
- Buscemi Red Adjustable Leather Canvas Made in Italy HatBy BuscemiLocated in Downey, CABuscemi Red Adjustable Leather Canvas Made in Italy Hat A classic baseball cap shape in Original Leather & Canvas Made in Italy detail. This Buscemi hat is a must have for any true ...Category
2010s Italian Hats