Vivienne Westwood Clutch NWOT
View Similar Items
Vivienne Westwood Clutch NWOT
About the Item
- Designer:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Capri, IT
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU18625074143
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.
- Loro Piana Blue ostrich handle bag clutchBy Loro PianaLocated in Capri, ITLoro Piana Blue ostrich handle bag clutch totally made in italyCategory
1990s Italian Clutches
- Gucci brown python bagBy GucciLocated in Capri, ITGucci brown python bag gold tone hardware box aroundCategory
1980s Italian Clutches
$2,059 - Gucci brown GG suede pochette clutchBy GucciLocated in Capri, ITGucci brown GG suede pochette clutch gold tone hardware measurements: 30 * 18 cmCategory
1980s Italian Clutches
- Louis Vuitton black shoulder bag pochetteBy Louis VuittonLocated in Capri, ITLouis Vuitton black shoulder bag pochette Marc Jacobs x Louis Vuitton black leather and suede both pochette or shoulder bag embellishe...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Shoulder Bags
- Jimmy Choo gold and silver tone pochetteBy Jimmy ChooLocated in Capri, ITJimmy Choo gold and silver tone pochette 16*30 cmCategory
1990s Italian Clutches
$230 Sale Price25% Off - Vivienne Westwood multicoloured leather textile clutchBy Anglomania Vivienne WestwoodLocated in Capri, ITVivienne Westwood multicoloured leather textile clutch 27*19 cmCategory
1990s Clutches
- 1990s Versace Versus Nylon Medusa Pin Top Handle Clutch BagBy Versus, Gianni VersaceLocated in London, GB
Discover the essence of Italian luxury with the iconic 1990s Versace Versus Nylon Medusa Clutch Bag, featuring a vibrant blue Medusa pin graphic print ...
Category1990s Italian Top Handle Bags
$266 Sale Price30% Off - Chanel Vintage 1997 Name Plate Black Patent Leather Top Handle BagBy ChanelLocated in Miami, FLChanel Vintage 1997 Name Plate Black Patent Leather Top Handle Bag Year 1997 Chanel handbag crafted in black quilted patent leather, featuring in...Category
1990s French Top Handle Bags
- Chanel 2003 Wood Top Handle Kelly Rare Vintage Black Caviar Leather Clutch BagBy ChanelLocated in Miami, FLChanel Wood Top Handle Kelly Rare Vintage Black Caviar Leather Clutch Bag 2003 {VINTAGE 21 Years} Gold hardware Flat bottom Hidden magnetic sna...Category
Early 2000s Italian Top Handle Bags
- Lou Taylor Navy Convertible ClutchLocated in Alford, MANavy convertible clutch, the exterior enhanced front and back with a set-in white rectangular border echoing the shape of the bag. The bag features...Category
1970s Clutches
- Gianni Versace Vintage Elegant Leather PochetteBy Gianni Versace Couture, Gianni VersaceLocated in Milano, ITElegant black leather clutch bag designed by Gianni Versace in the 1980s, fine Italian craftsmanship. ORIGINAL LABEL AND MARK. The b orse has a classic beveled rectangular shape, wit...Category
1980s Italian Top Handle Bags
$701 Sale Price20% Off - Fall 2012 VERSACE BLACK NAPPA LEATHER QUILTED VANITAS Bag w/BOTTOM HANDLEBy VersaceLocated in Montgomery, TXVERSACE Collection Fall 2012 Quilting embosses this leather Versace handbag, which is punctuated with titanium-color hardware Blue satin interior Medusa medallion tassel Dou...Category
2010s Italian Clutches
$1,751 Sale Price35% Off