The Untold Truth Of Vivienne Westwood

Few people in the fashion world are as iconic, subversive, or revolutionary as Vivienne Westwood. The British fashion designer's contribution to the industry has been nothing short of immense. Born and raised in rural Derbyshire, Westwood's fashion career began with a bang in the early '70s with her first punk fashion shop, "Let it Rock," later renamed "Sex." By 1976, she and her then partner (both romantic and business) Malcolm McLaren had become the official designers for the punk band the Sex Pistols — and the rest is history. From popularizing the punk Mohawk to creating the first boob t-shirt to her infamous towering platform shoes, Westood's work has gone down in fashion history. Throughout the years, the designer has released countless groundbreaking collections and has received numerous prestigious awards — and she continues to push the boundaries to this day (via Vogue).

Westwood has consistently been described as "outspoken," "outlandish," or simply "out there." However, for someone whose life and career has been so loud and so public, you may be surprised that there are a few facts that may come as a surprise to you. Here is the untold truth of Vivienne Westwood.

One of Vivienne Westwood's most infamous moments happened in 1992 when the designer received the prestigious OBE. Receiving an OBE, or Order of the British Empire, is a pretty big deal, involving a traditional royal ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

Well, trust Westwood to cause a stir. As the Daily Mail reported, the designer pulled a highly provocative stunt at the ceremony: she failed to wear any underwear under her dress. She then twirled around in the palace courtyard to show off her very bold fashion statement.

In 2006, the designer was awarded another royal honor, and apparently she repeated the stunt again. Upon receiving the award from the Prince of Wales, she reportedly explained, "I don't wean them [knickers] with dresses. When I'm wearing trousers I might — my husband's silk boxers." Whether you think her stunt at the palace was shocking or hilarious, one thing's for certain: Westwood is one brave woman!

In 2018, director Lorna Tucker released a documentary about Vivienne Westwood called Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist. Tucker and Westwood had been friends for a decade prior to the release of the film after bonding on a film set. As Tucker told Fashionista, Westwood quickly became one of her biggest idols. However, their friendship was cut short with the release of the documentary — Westwood hated it.

Apparently, the designer had requested for certain intimate scenes in the film to be cut, but Tucker refused in the name of artistic integrity. While the film was undoubtedly far more nuanced thanks to these scenes, Westwood and her company have denounced Tucker and her film. Westwood even tweeted, "Lorna Tucker asked to film Vivienne's activism and followed her around for a couple of years, but there's not even five minutes of activism in the film. Instead there's a lot of old fashion footage which is free and available to view online. It's a shame because the film is mediocre, and Vivienne and Andreas are not." Yikes!

Vivienne Westwood has always been a busy woman. In fact, since opening her first shop in the '70s, the fashion designer has worked non-stop. As she confessed to the Independent, her voracious work ethic meant that she missed out on spending time with her children. "I know I was a terrible mother," she said bluntly. "I didn't put my children first."

It's not the only time Westwood has opened up about what she sees as her failure in the motherhood department. At the 2016 Cheltenham Literary Festival, the designer said, "If you don't want children and you don't want to spend time with them, try not to have them." She cited her own mother who "made herself ill" worrying about her own parental skills (via Art Net). It's clear that Westwood's own experience of motherhood has made her rethink her stance of having children in general.

It would be easy to assume that Vivienne Westwood had a strong feminist agenda. After all, she's spent the majority of her career proving herself in an industry predominantly dominated by male designers (via Business of Fashion). However, the designer revealed to The Guardian that she actually identifies as an anti-feminist; her take on feminism is actually pretty controversial. "They don't see the wood for the trees and everything has to be viewed from this feminist point of view," she said boldly.

Westwood went on to explain her issues with the feminist movement. "I know women have suffered and I think it's great that people stand up for the women's rights, but the problem with feminists is that they somehow consider women to be superior beings," she continued. "And in the end, they just want to be men anyway." Wow, it sounds like Westwood has some pretty bold opinions when it comes to feminism. However, whether she identifies as a "feminist" or not, it seems that Westwood does care about equality for women.

Most people who know Vivienne Westwood know her for her contributions to the fashion world. However, many folks don't realize that the designer actually loves one thing more than fashion. As Westwood confessed on the BBC radio program Desert Island Discs, she simply adores books. As she explained, if left on a desert island, she would definitely miss reading! "I have always regretted the fact that I've never had enough time to read," she shared. However, Westwood eventually decided to "create a salon" to gather people together to discuss "ideas, and, of course, art." She even said that she would give up fashion if she could devote her life to reading.

So, what does Westwood like to read? As she told the Independent, her favorite pastime is reading; at the time, she was reportedly reading a biography of Aldous Huxley. And in Interview magazine, Westwood spoke about Cormac McCarthy's The Road, which is one of her favorite novels. In that same chat, Westwood even confessed that she might have become a writer in another life.

Vivienne Westwood is nothing if not provocative. Notably, in one of her earliest designs, Westwood decided to include an incredibly controversial symbol on a T-shirt that came into prominence during the Second World War: the swastika. The symbol was used by Adolf Hitler and has become a symbol of fascism and anti-Semitism (via the BBC).

In an interview with In Camera, Westwood shared that adding the symbol was [her ex-partner] Malcolm McLaren's idea. She then explained why they chose to use it. "We hated the older generation and it wasn't young people, but old people we felt were responsible for the mismanagement and cruelty in the world still going on... To us, it was a way of saying to the older generation, 'We don't accept your values or your taboos.'"

However, since her punk days, Westwood has changed her opinions in many ways. As she explained, she's realized that this attitude was potentially "harmful." As she said, "What I learnt from punk rock was that you don't change the establishment by attacking it." Sounds like Westwood probably would have rethought using the infamous symbol if she was designing the T-shirt today.

In 2020, Vivienne Westwood told The Guardian that she had a plan to combat the ever-growing climate crisis — and some of the planet's other pressing issues. Her idea was to sell packs of playing cards at artworks for £100 a piece. "You see, anybody who is prepared to pay £100 for a pack of cards is buying them because of what those cards represent," she explained. "So if Greenpeace sells hundreds of sets of cards, they are in a position to say, we have hundreds of people supporting us." Apparently, Westwood thinks that this movement will help to convince governments around the world to alter their entire economy. 

Additionally, Westwood's strategy involves ending private land ownership so that no one can cut down rainforests or damage the planet's ecosystems further. "The strategy to save the Earth is on these cards," she continued. And when asked by Interview magazine about her legacy, Westwood had a thoughtful answer. "I would hope to live long enough to see that people are confronting the problem of climate change, because if they do, then I think they'll manage to stop it," she revealed.