Vivienne Westwood Brown Velvet "Portrait Collection" Dress, Fall 1990
View Similar Items
Vivienne Westwood Brown Velvet "Portrait Collection" Dress, Fall 1990
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Dimensions:Marked Size: Fits like UK 12-14/ US 8-10 (UK)Bust: 36 in (91.44 cm)Waist: 28 in (71.12 cm)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Doncaster, GB
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU46832446563
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.
- ALAÏA 1990 black knitted mini dressBy Azzedine AlaïaLocated in Genève, CHAlaïa knitted mini dress with sheer raised edge skirt -Back closing with a hidden set zipper -Long sleeves -Nude knitted lining -Made in Italy -100% V...Category
1990s Italian Mini Dress
- Jean Paul Gaultier JPG Soleil Golden Eagle Hawk Kendall Jenner Skirt Top SetBy Jean Paul Gaultier, Jean Paul Gaultier SoleilLocated in PARIS, FRJean Paul Gaultier JPG Soleil Vintage Japanese Golden Eagle Koi Fish Kendall Jenner Wave Yellow Mesh Sheer Transparent Wrap T-shirt Skirt Top Dress Golden Japanese Eagle...Category
1990s Maxi Dresses
$1,994 Sale Price30% OffFree Shipping - ALEXANDER MCQUEEN Textured Leather Bubble DressBy Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, Alexander McQueenLocated in Berlin, BEIncredible Alexander McQueen textured leather dress with the most amazing dramatic silhouette. This high-quality dress has the most incredible round silhouette - It is made from a textured leather and features a round neckline with beautiful seam-line details, large round puff...Category
2010s Italian Evening Dresses
- SAINT LAURENT BY HEDI SLIMANE 2014 Black Leather Mini DressBy Hedi Slimane for Yves Saint Laurent, Saint LaurentLocated in Berlin, BEThe most incredible leather mini-dress by Saint Laurent from 2014, designed by Hedi Slimane. This exceptional sleeveless mini dress is made from a soft lamb leather and features gor...Category
2010s French Mini Dress
- Vintage Dolce & Gabbana black mini dress with crystal trim details S/S1995By Dolce & GabbanaLocated in London, GBVintage Dolce & Gabbana black mini dress with crystal details S/S1995. The dress is in good condition just light signs of use around the crystals. ▪ Black rayon chiffon with lining ▪...Category
1990s Italian Mini Dress
$1,203 Sale Price48% Off - Chanel black wool dress pre fall 2011 Paris Byzance FR 46By ChanelLocated in Rubiera, RECHANEL Pre-fall 2011 PARIS BYZANCE Métiers d'Art Look 11/67 Black wool jersey dress embellished with 6 jewel ornaments. Size FR 46 Made in France 100% wool ...Category
2010s French Cocktail Dresses