Vivienne Westwood dies: Five times British fashion legend courted controversy

Legendary English fashion designer Vivienne Westwood died on Thursday at the age of 81. She will be remembered for ushering in trends like modern punk and new wave to popular fashion. She gained fame when she made clothes for the boutique she ran with the late impresario Malcolm McLaren on West London's King's Road. The boutique cameto be known as SEX. Westwood and McLaren combined clothing and fashion to shape the punk scene of the 1970s United Kingdom. McLaren was also a manager of the Sex Pistols, the band that pioneered the punk movement in the UK.

Like the punk movement itself, Westwood was something of an anti-establishment figure, and was never afraid to share her views in the most eloquent way she knew—through fashion. Here are the times she courted controversy:

A no-underwear appearance at the Buckingham Palace

My favorite Vivienne Westwood story is the one where she went to Buckingham Palace to be awarded an OBE and twirled her skirt for photographers, revealing her lack of underwear. She said later it wasn't deliberate, but who believes that? It was the most punk thing she ever did. pic.twitter.com/cZL7jsEq9p — Tom and Lorenzo (@tomandlorenzo) December 29, 2022

The Order of the British Empire is one of Britain's highest honours and gives the title 'Sir' to males and 'Dame' to females. Vivienne Westwood was bestowed with the honour in 1992. The honour involves a ceremony at Buckingham Palace, the seat of the Windsors, the British royal family. Westwood did accept the honour (many left-leaning figures involved in British counterculture don't). But she was not going down without a fight. She turned up at the place without underwear. She even did a twirl for the photographers, um, showcase her sartorial choice.

Margaret Thatcher impersonation

Vivienne Westwood nasceu na "classe operária" e fez oposição forte ao governo de Margaret Thatcher, a quem chamava de "hipócrita".

Em 1989, ela saiu caracterizada como a primeira-ministra na edição de Dia da Mentira da Tatler.

Em 2006, ganhou o título de Dama da monarquia. pic.twitter.com/sQRwvIAqHy — João Ker (@JoaoKer) December 29, 2022

On the 1989 cover of Tatler magazine, Westwood appeared as the then British Prime Minister and Conservative Party politician Margaret Thatcher. She reportedly even donned the suit that Thatcher had ordered but had not collected. The image appeared on the April Fools edition of the magazine and shows Westwood looking uncannily like Thatcher. The stunt, however, cost the magazine's editor Emma Soames her job.

Birthday present to David Cameron

It was not just Thatcher, in 2014 Westwood also took aim at then-Prime Minister David Cameron. She sent to 10 Downing Street an ironic birthday wish that included a letter and a box of asbestos to protest against fracking, a practice of drilling holes into the ground and sending a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals to extract gas and oil. Fracking severely damages ecosystems. Westwood said that Cameron was "playing Russian roulette with the lives of the British public."

Shirt with the Nazi symbol and image of an inverted Christ

with the death of fashion punk Vivienne Westwood swastikas can return to Twitter without censorship. #ye24 #Pele pic.twitter.com/jO96ZEPTGc — Marco Antonio 🍝 🇺🇲 (@thegallico) December 30, 2022

In 1977, Westwood wore a shirt that had the Nazi symbol, which represents fascism and anti-Semitism, emblazoned upon it, and also an image of the inverted Christ symbol, said to be anti-Christian and Satanic. The anarchic piece of clothing represented the punk politics of Westwood and McLaren. Since wearing that controversial shirt, Westwood has said that she wore it as a protest against dictators around the world.

Anti-feminist views

If there is one specific, brief thing to be said about Westwood, she was contradictory. You would think after all that anti-establishment and anti-conservative views and antics, she would be an avowed feminist. No such thing. She said she actually identifies as an anti-feminist. "They don't see the wood for the trees and everything has to be viewed from this feminist point of view," she once told The Guardian.

She added, "I know women have suffered and I think it's great that people stand up for women's rights, but the problem with feminists is that they somehow consider women to be superior beings. And in the end, they just want to be men anyway."