It’s been almost a year and a half since Vivienne Westwood passed away at the age of 81, but the designer continues to make waves. In life, Westwood was guided by an unwavering moral compass, speaking out against everything from climate change to nuclear disarmament to unlawful detainment. Her design career reflected her values, releasing collections that parodied the British monarchy and provocative T-shirts that denounced fascism.
Posthumously, Westwood continues to support the causes that she held close to her heart. In a two-part sale (consisting of a live auction on June 25, as well as an online sale running now through June 28), Christie’s are auctioning hundreds of pieces from the designer’s personal collection. One hundred percent of the sale’s proceeds will go to The Vivienne Foundation, Médecins Sans Frontières, and Amnesty International.
As fashion fanatics, we at Vogue can’t help but drool over Westwood’s collection, overflowing with orb jewelry, Harris tweed, and—of course—her signature corsets. While we may not be buying ourselves, we all have our eyes on certain pieces from Vivienne Westwood’s formidable personal archive.
The primness of this Harris tweed ensemble with its whiff of librarian chic is delightful to me, as it seems to reference VW’s love of books and also her youth and early career as a school teacher. For me, there is a direct link to be drawn between Britain’s post-war austerity measures and the DIY aesthetic that defined Westood’s early work. —Laird Borrelli Persson, archive editor