It is impossible to talk about the history of fashion without mentioning Vivienne Westwood. With a glittering career that has earned her enormous respect in the industry and worldwide fame, the British designer, who turns 80 in April, is a legend.
Across five decades of triumph, Westwood has amassed an impressive list of truly iconic moments in fashion (a phrase we don't use lightly, as this woman practically invented punk). Her career has earned her the title of Lady of the British Empire, but after 28 years of marriage to Austrian designer Andreas Kronthaler, 55, also creative director of his firm, it is clear that their successful union on a personal and professional level has also deserves a big round of applause.
Last year, when the world had to pause due to the coronavirus, the marriage continued to unleash her creative vein with activism and fashion. Westwood, always vocal about issues she believes in, continues to inspire us with her Friday speeches, which she shares on her Climate Revolution website and on her social media; in addition to the outfits that she wears for the occasion, designed and portrayed by Kronthaler, of course. “I love getting ready for my speech on Friday,” says Ella Westwood. "We are designers, so each time I can wear something different from our collections and from our archive."
Before presenting their fall-winter 2021/2022 collection with a film that aired on the Vivienne Westwood website on March 6 during Paris Fashion Week, we talked to the married couple, something they don't usually lend themselves to, about the importance of activism in the midst of an international crisis, his current obsessions and the secret to having a happy marriage.
Vivienne Westwood: Activism, working on my strategy to save the world, cooking.
Andreas Kronthaler: Fashion, cleaning, gardening. Every evening we take a walk on Clapham Common near our home in South London.
VW: The heart of the collection film has been our newly redecorated store at 6 Davies Street, Mayfair. George Bernard Shaw's original work was called Pygmalion (1913) after the Greek sculptor who fell in love with the perfect beauty he had created; then inert matter came to life.
