Vivienne Westwood Red Label 2012 Silver Splatter Dress New with Tags Size 40
View Similar Items
Vivienne Westwood Red Label 2012 Silver Splatter Dress New with Tags Size 40
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Dimensions:Length: 42 in (106.68 cm)Marked Size: 40 (EU)Bust: 34 in (86.36 cm)Waist: 26 in (66.04 cm)Hip: 40 in (101.6 cm)
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Cloverdale, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU586186682
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.
- New LANVIN Duchesse Satin Vintage Gray Long Wedding Celebrity Gown US 2 4 FR 36By Lanvin ParisLocated in Goshen, KYSize: French 36 Brand: LANVIN Color: Light Dove Gray Season: Vintage Features: Strapless sweetheart neckline Draped detail throughout Ruffle detail at side Belt at waist Long leng...Category
2010s Wedding Dresses
- Vintage 1950's Pink Swirling Satin & Tulle Dress UK 6 US 2Located in Cheltenham, GBThis iconic 1950's dress, rendered in layers of pink tulle, with delicate circular satin details, is just the piece for that special occasion. The strapless cut of the dress, featu...Category
1950s Cocktail Dresses
- EMPORIO ARMANI black and white sequin dress SS2007By EMPORIO ARMANI EA7Located in Paris, FRTag EMPORIO ARMANI Size M ( IT42 ) Length 95cm Chest 39cm Waist 36cm 100% silk Lining 100% polyester Perfect condition Some sequins are missing on the back, but you can sew...Category
Early 2000s Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Blumarine, Strapless draped dressBy BlumarineLocated in AMSTERDAM, NLBlumarine, Strapless draped dress in grey. This item is new - unworn. With zipper on the side • CONDITION: new - unworn • SIZE: IT40 - XS • MEASUREM...Category
2010s Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Gucci by Tom Ford S/S 2006 Chocolate brown backless halter bamboo cocktail dressBy Tom Ford for GucciLocated in Milano, IT- Designed by Tom Ford - Sold by Skof.Archive - Bamboo clasp detail - Open back brown cocktail dress - Fitted to the body - Spring Summer 2006 ...Category
Early 2000s Italian Evening Dresses and Gowns
$525 Sale Price79% OffFree Shipping - Valentino Early 2000s Floral pattern silk chiffon halter evening dressBy ValentinoLocated in Milano, IT- Designed by Valentino Garavani - Sold by Skof.Archive - Green, yellow, purple and red print silk flower motif - Halter evening dress - Open bac...Category
Early 2000s Italian Evening Dresses and Gowns