Vivienne Westwood, who turns 80 today, is truly a designer’s designer. That’s a fact, not just a pretty turn of phrase. She was invited by Riccardo Tisci to collaborate at Burberry in 2018, and back in 1995 she created a bum bag at the invitation of Louis Vuitton, which was then celebrating the 100th year of its logo monogram. In photographs of her 1990s front rows the likes of Jean Paul Gaultier, Jean Paul Goude, John Galliano, and Azzedine Alaïa are in the audience.
Westwood helped birth Punk in the 1970s, and by the ’90s she was deep into her study of historical garments. So enchanted was she by the 18th century that her models often were often styled à la française with painted white faces and beauty marks (mouches), not to mention heaving bosoms.
The designer’s birthday offers the perfect opportunity to stage a mini Westwoodpalooza. For the occasion, we’ve digitized five archival 1990s collections, starting with Anglomania, from fall 1993, the show in which Naomi Campbell took the tumble seen around the world. Café Society (spring 1994) is like a walk through a museum; the models could have stepped right out of paintings by Chardin, Ingres, and Winterhalter. On Liberty (fall 1994) was Westwood’s very own lumps and bumps collection. The Vive la Cocotte collection (fall 1995) had its pop-culture moment in 2000 when Lil’ Kim wore its “Queen of Sheba” dress to her album release party. Fall 1996’s Storm in a Teacup show was more temperate; it opened with Jerry Hall in a tailored coat and closed with Laetitia Casta as a bride in a white fur hat and dress that showed her garters—the perfect look for a tease-party.
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