Westwood Purple Toga Dress
View Similar Items
Westwood Purple Toga Dress
About the Item
- Designer:
- Dimensions:Length: 50 in (127 cm)Marked Size: No Size Marked (UK)Bust: 32 in (81.28 cm)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Los Angeles, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU451849423
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.
- Balenciaga By Ghesquiere Black Peplum Coat DressBy BalenciagaLocated in Los Angeles, CAResurrection Vintage is excited to offer a vintage Balenciaga by Nicolas Ghesquière black coat dress featuring a high collar, ruffle insets in the bod...Category
Early 2000s French Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Dolce & Gabbana Black Velvet Mini Dress With Fringe Hem & Rhinestone StrapsBy Dolce & GabbanaLocated in Los Angeles, CAResurrection Vintage is excited to offer a vintage Dolce & Gabbana black velvet slip dress featuring a fitted body, skinny straps with rhinestones, a fringe hem, and knee-length. D...Category
Early 2000s Italian Cocktail Dresses
- Versace Black Leather Pinstripe Tank Dress 1990SBy Gianni VersaceLocated in Los Angeles, CAResurrection Vintage is excited to offer Gianni Versace black leather day dress featuring an dotted pinstriping,tank body, front kangaroo pocket, and fitted sexy silhouette. Versac...Category
1990s Italian Evening Dresses
- Halston Purple Chiffon & Jersey DressBy HalstonLocated in Los Angeles, CAResurrection Vintage is pleased to offer a vintage Halston dress featuring a flowy chiffon overlay, knee-length hem, fitted underlay, and scoop...Category
1970s Caftans
- Dolce & Gabbana Black Crochet Fishnet Cardigan Dress 1990SBy Dolce & GabbanaLocated in Los Angeles, CAResurrection Vintage is excited to offer a vintage Dolce & Gabbana black fishnet cardigan dress featuring a crochet fishnet weave, scalloped trim, and button closure. Dolce & Gabban...Category
1990s Italian Evening Dresses
- Balenciaga by Ghesquiere Black Cocktail Mini Dress 2007By BalenciagaLocated in Los Angeles, CAResurrection Vintage is excited to offer a vintage Balenciaga by Nicolas Ghesquiere black viscose cocktail dress featuring an empire waistline, drape ...Category
Early 2000s French Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Mariano Fortuny Black Silk Peplos GownBy FortunyLocated in Riverdale, NYThis dress is made of finely pleated black colored silk with silk cording along side seams,shoulders and tunic hem with matte frosted colored glass beads threaded through the cordin...Category
Early 20th Century Italian Art Deco Peplos
Price Upon Request - Mariano Fortuny Black Peplos GownBy FortunyLocated in Riverdale, NYThis dress is made of finely pleated black colored silk with silk cording along side seams,shoulders and tunic hem with multicolored glass beads threaded through the cording.
...CategoryEarly 20th Century Italian Art Deco Delphos Gowns
Price Upon Request - Mariano Fortuny Black Delphos GownBy FortunyLocated in Riverdale, NYThis dress is made of finely pleated black colored silk with silk cording along side seams, and multicolored glass beads threaded through the cording.
Named after a ...CategoryEarly 20th Century Italian Art Deco Delphos Gowns
Price Upon Request - DOLCE&GABBANA Black and Beige Silk Dress with Adjustable Straps | Size 8US 40EUBy Dolce & Gabbana, D&G by DOLCE & GABBANALocated in Cuggiono, MIThis babydoll dress is made of a black silk chiffon fabric and it is fully lined with a silk beige crepe de chine. It features a full circle skirt, a pair of adjustable straps and a ...Category
2010s Italian Babydoll Dresses
- Herve Leger "Belina" Black Asymmetric Fringe Eyelet Strapless Bandage Dress NWTBy Herve Leger by Max Azria, Herve LégerLocated in Chicago, ILHerve Leger "Belina" black asymmetric fringe metal eyelet strapless bandage mini dress. New with tags (MSRP: $1,990). Tight, sturdy and durable construction, built to showcase your c...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Chinese Cocktail Dresses
- Thierry Mugler Formal Elegant Rubber Tire Mesh Transparent Gown Cocktail DressBy Thierry Mugler CoutureLocated in PARIS, FRThierry Mugler Formal Elegant Dress Rubber Tire Mesh Transparent Gown Cocktail Maxi Dress Mesh/trasparent Sleeves! Very good condition, exept there is 1 cm tear at the end of the V ...Category
1990s French Evening Gowns