Palace X Vivienne Westwood (Autumn 2024)
Photo by Shoichi Aoki.
I.
It's exactly two years ago today that the 81-year-old British fashion designer (and cultural icon, etc., etc.) Vivienne Westwood died, peacefully surrounded by her family, in Clapham, South London [1].
But it didn't take 24 months for the (all-too-predictable) falling out between the Vivienne Westwood label in the red corner and, in the blue corner, the Vivienne Foundation, as the former's commercial interests and the latter's values soon came into conflict.
II.
According to the Foundation - a not-for-profit organisation established to protect the legacy of Dame Westwood and to create a better society [2] - the fashion label based designs for a sell-out collection in collaboration with the uber-trendy skateboard brand, Palace [3], on her extensive archive without any consultation [4].
The row, which erupted in October of this year, resulted in Cora Corré - Westwood's granddaughter - resigning her role as campaigns manager at the fashion label, claiming that her grandmother would not be happy with the way the company was being run and calling for the removal of the CEO, Carlo D'Amario, after Westwood's close and trusted friend, British designer Jeff Banks, was forced out of his role as a director of the company in July [5].
What Cora and her father (Joe Corré) now think of Andreas Kronthaler, Westwood's (third) husband and long-time design partner - a man who supported the ousting of Banks whilst securing his own position as creative director at the fashion brand and personally approving the collaboration with Palace - I don't know (and wouldn't like to speculate).
As to what I think ...
Well, to be honest, I'm almost beyond caring and can't take either the Vivienne Foundation or the Vivienne Westwood fashion label very seriously. Indeed, one is almost tempted to echo Shakespeare's Mercutio and wish a plague on both their houses!
For ultimately, I find the manner in which Malcolm McLaren has had his seminal role downplayed in the official Westwood history more of a concern [6].
Notes
[1] See my personal recollection of Westwood, published on 30 December 2022, to mark her passing: click here.
[2] How does one create a better society? Well, according to the Vivienne Foundation, one must: halt climate change; stop war; defend human rights; and protest capitalism.
[3] Palace is a London-based skateboard brand established in 2009, founded by Lev Tanju and Gareth Skewis, and very popular within the urban streetwear community. The collaboration with Vivienne Westwood was born, apparently, from the subversive spirit that both brands share and has culture and humour at its heart.
[4] Westwood transferred all of her creative design
and property rights to the Vivienne Foundation, which she established in collaboration with her sons and granddaughter, in 2019.
[5] In a post published on Instagram (22 Oct 2024), Ms. Corré writes:
"There has been much confusion around my current role within the Vivienne
Westwood company. Although, the company bares my grandmother's name, I
do not feel at this time that it reflects her values.
Vivienne taught me to always stand up for what is right and I want to
stay true to that. She created the Foundation in 2019 to pursue her
activism outside of the constraints placed on her by the managing
director of the company.
Due to a breakdown in relations between the Vivienne Westwood company
and the Vivienne Foundation, my role within the company has become
untenable.
Moving forward, I will focus my energy on honouring my grandmother's legacy through the Vivienne Foundation and continue the work that was so important to her."
[6] McLaren rightly felt that his contributions to fashion history were overlooked or downplayed.
One might remind readers, for example, that he was not properly credited for his work on the V&A Westwood retrospective in 2004 and that his name is often removed from archival documentation and photos. Even after taking legal action to correct omissions and inaccuracies, the official V&A catalogue remains an unreliable record of events from the days when he and Westwood were partners.
Sadly, the fact is that the fashion industry and media almost entirely buy into the idea that Vivienne was the creative visionary and Malcolm merely an entertaining charlatan of some kind; similarly, there are those within the music business who maintain that Johnny Rotten was the gifted genius behind the Sex Pistols and that McLaren was merely a manager.
