Image of Westwood’s ‘Nostalgia of Mud’ collection March 1982
Photograph by François Lamy
Taken from book ‘Vivienne Westwood’ By Gene Krell, as part of the ‘Fashion Memoir’ series.

Vivienne Westwood is a designer I’ve always admired; herself a powerful woman, a political advocate and environmental campaigner. She expresses her views and opinions through her collections- for example her fall 2017 mens wear collection featured androgynous models and outfits. Vivienne designer the collection to inspired inner exploration, with many elements derived from past collections, recycling ideas for both genders. The mixed gender models also an element ‘recycled’- used by Vivienne in her early collections, such as ‘Pirates’. The image above is from Westwood’s ‘Nostalgia of Mud’ collection of 1982. Despite having studied Westwood before and her early collections such as ‘Punkature’, I had not previously seen this collection. I selected this image over others within the book ‘Vivienne Westwood’ as I loved the composition of the shoot; itself a reflection of the textured and layered clothing being modelled.

http://worldsendshop.co.uk/nostalgia-of-mud/
Original photograph of store front at St Christopher’s Place owned by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren taken in 1982, photographer unknown.

Further research regarding this collection lead me to the ‘Worlds End’ website- Westwood’s Flagship store. The post reflects upon the collection, but mainly the store that was created to market it in. Westwood created a shop to reflect the collection, itself a piece of art:

“The shop front was covered by a 3D relief of the map of the world made out of plaster & coloured a mud brown. The interior featured the cave like look of an archaeological dig. Scaffolding surrounded the walls, brown tarpaulin was stretched across the ceiling & a central pillar/stalagmite rose out of a pool of oily green liquid which bubbled primitively away.”

Ben Westwood, ‘Nostalgia of Mud’ 2014
http://worldsendshop.co.uk/nostalgia-of-mud/

https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/vivienne-westwood-punk-new-romantic-and-beyond
Article discussing the progression of Westwood’s work over the decades.

The information provide by the Website furthered my understanding of Westwood’s ideas, the shop acting as a further exploration of her concept.

The website however did not provide a explanation of Westwood’s ideas behind the collection. To further understand this I found an article produced by the V&A which mapped Westwood’s collections over the decades.

The article explained Westwood’s intention: ‘to demonstrate that the roots of our culture lie in primitive societies’ with garments within the collection reference traditional garments of different cultures.

This allowed me to further understand the composition of the garments and the reasons for the design of the store in which the garments were sold.

https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/vivienne-westwood-punk-new-romantic-and-beyond
Article discussing the progression of Westwood’s work over the decades.

Beginning research directed by a book, rather than an online source provided me with a more open starting point. If I had approached this research without having to use a book as my first resource I would have just relied upon previous knowledge of Westwood’s work, resulting in a restricted project. Working initially from a book prompted a different direction of research, using the internet to then further this initial research only. The use of the V&A’s archive of Westwood’s work provide me with a clear and reliable reflection upon the collection and its initial concepts, furthering my understanding of the work and the message it was designed to convey.