Vivienne Westwood: An Unfashionable Life

by Jane Mulvagh

The acclaimed biography of one of England's great eccentrics and leading fashion designers, reissued in an updated edition to coincide with a major exhibition of Westwood's work at the Victoria & Albert Museum.* For three decades, Vivienne Westwood has been Britain's most consistently original, outrageous, eccentric and controversial designer. In that time she has evolved from an iconoclastic outsider to an internationally revered figure, with two British Designer of the Year awards, an OBE, her own successful fashion label and an unrivalled reputation for leading where other designers follow.* Her lifestyle could scarcely be in greater contrast to the opulence which surrounds other leading until recently she lived in a modest council flat in South London, and she still travels around the capital by bicycle, dressed in her own flamboyant creations, with a plastic bag protecting her hair from the elements. How did an awkward girl from a conventional and provincial background become one of world fashion's most influential and respected designers? How has she managed to remain true to her own idiosyncratic vision, refusing to conform to the fashion industry's, and society's, expectations?* Speaking to Westwood herself, her friends, lovers, colleagues, rivals, admirers and detractors, Jane Mulvagh has created a portrait as rich, distinctive and constantly surprising as her subject's character and work.

Genres: Fashion, Nonfiction, Biography

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[pamela strangman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read, very well researched, and informative book. I learnt a lot about Westwood and her method of working, and about the history of modern fashion.
I’d recommend it as a good read, and also for student of fashion. However, students shouldn’t copy her personality!

[R.J. Gilmour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mulvagh has written a biography of the English fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. The book looks at Westwood's life and her involvement with Malcolm McLaren and how her relationships helped define her work. While an interesting biography the lack of pictures, especially of the clothing collections that Mulvagh references doesn't allow readers to understand the importance of Westwood's stamp on twentieth-century fashion.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this book would be really interesting, it wasn't.

[Issy Wilkes · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting and not what I expected, the first half was especially good

[WORN Fashion Journal]

This biography chronicles Vivienne’s life from childhood to her sixties, documenting the inward and outward influences that helped shape her into the King’s Road punk, outrageous innovator, and renegade style icon she is known as today. As emphasized in the book, Vivienne always sought attention (declaring at the birth of sister, Olga that she would “‘dead her and put her in the dustbin’”) and adding provocative details to her school gymslips. This originality married with a nostalgic affection for traditional English textiles would become one of Vivienne’s trademarks, as seen in her Harris Tweed and Anglomania collections.

Vivienne was famously uninterested in trends, seeking to create what appealed to her own artistic sensibilities, causing immeasurable stress for those working with her. Her use of impractical fabrics and cuts made her designs “extremely complicated to manufacture, as she [rejected] any recognizable template or pattern”. In the business world, Vivienne’s companies dealt with constant financial mismanagement, largely stemming from employees taking advantage of her trust (or oversight, as the case may be) and swindling money. Vivienne fought for recognition among her contemporaries, such as John Galliano (with whom she unsuccessfully competed to become Design Director of Dior in the mid-90s), Alexander McQueen and Jean-Paul Gaultier, many of whom restructured Vivienne’s original concepts, such as the corset and bustle, to be

An Unfashionable Life is fascinating for how it charts a woman who influenced latter 20th century fashion so deeply. Vivienne’s use of sloganned tee-shirts – a design concept which deserves partial accreditation to Malcolm McLaren – ranging from the provocative “naked cowboys shirt” to text based styles, such as, “The best accessory is a book” – reflect Vivienne and her followers’ reactions to mainstream fashion. When 80s power dressing meant androgynous pantsuits, Vivienne reintroduced the corset and celebrated the shape of a woman.

Vivienne was (and probably is) not easy to work with, but this book explores her unrelenting quest for personal satisfaction. Each collections has its own philosophy, and Vivienne’s mix of slapdash (sometimes even getting seamstresses and friends out from the audience to make adjustments, while allowing models to style themselves) and studied, has created a completely unique look. Although all her collections have not been critical successes, An Unfashionable Life provides a detailed and highly readable guide to the Westwood evolution. It provides array of perspectives, including those of her critics, to depict a designer who thrived off intentional and unintentional marriages between challenging the status quo and embracing her English roots. Highly recommended for those interested by Vivienne, the evolution of 60s street-style or contemporary fashion’s roots. Viv covered a lot of territory, and this book has the substance to match. (reviewed by Esmé Hogeveen

[Sharon Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this some years ago.

[Autumn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written, outdated and repetitive hack job laced with factual errors. At least I learned the names of the collections from this.

[Lucy Gray]

loved reading this book- practically read it non stop. I particularly enjoyed the section on the 1970s and 1980s. This book gave me a great insight into VWs personality and work ethic.

[Louise Lloyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hhhm...well fascinating but not sure I like her very much. A genius with a touch of lunacy. Well written, interesting views on the changing times from 1950 through to 1990s

[Virosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

An honest depiction of Vivienne Westwood's idiosyncratic persona that characterises her work of over two decades

[almudenasaiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

So goooooood