MINT. Vintage Vivienne Westwood classic crown shape golden chain necklace.
View Similar Items
MINT. Vintage Vivienne Westwood classic crown shape golden chain necklace.
About the Item
- Creator:
- Metal:
- Style:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1990s
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Kashiwa, JP
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU41831458543
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.
- 18 Karat White Gold Chain Necklace with Rectangular Diamonds PendantLocated in Rome, IT18 karat white gold chain necklace with rectangular pendant diamonds and four round diamonds The pendant has five baguette cut diamonds and 28 round cut diamonds all around The chai...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Chain Necklaces
MaterialsDiamond, 18k Gold, White Gold
- Diamond Pendant Necklace TriangleBy Wesley Kloss Fine JewelryLocated in Cleveland, OHThe Diamond Formation Triangle Pendant Necklace holds a conflict-free 3mm diamond at the center of its beveled surface. Paired with a delicate 1mm Italian made chain in 16”. This pen...Category
2010s American Contemporary Pendant Necklaces
MaterialsDiamond, White Diamond, 14k Gold
- Citrine Bonbon NecklaceBy Emily KuvinLocated in New York, NYWhen you just need a little something sweet, our Bonbon Necklace is just the thing. Here, with yellow citrine. Plays well alone or with others. 18" chain with additional clasp optio...Category
2010s American Contemporary Pendant Necklaces
MaterialsCitrine, 14k Gold
$1,120 - Emily Kuvin Gold, Diamond, Lapis and Turquoise Statement NecklaceBy Emily KuvinLocated in New York, NYStunning times three. Our Piccolo Grand Stella Necklace in warm yellow gold features a lapis lazuli in our center organic shape Stella star and accenting Stellina stars, completed wi...Category
2010s American Contemporary Pendant Necklaces
MaterialsDiamond, Lapis Lazuli, Turquoise, 14k Gold
$2,500 Sale Price21% Off - Amethyst Bonbon NecklaceBy Emily KuvinLocated in New York, NYWhen you just need a little something sweet, our Bonbon Necklace is just the thing. Here, with amethyst. Plays well alone or with others. 18" chain with additional clasp options at ...Category
2010s American Contemporary Pendant Necklaces
MaterialsAmethyst, 14k Gold
$1,120 - Emily Kuvin Gold and Diamond Star NecklaceBy Emily KuvinLocated in New York, NYAdd a little sparkle! Classic, contemporary and stunning. Our iconic matte yellow gold organic star shape Stellina necklace features our signature diamond dusting and a stunning 0.25 cttw diamond center. Hanging on a delicate gold chain...Category
2010s American Contemporary Pendant Necklaces
MaterialsDiamond, 14k Gold