Vivienne Westwood is a designer Iâve 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 ârecycledâ- used by Vivienne in her early collections, such as âPiratesâ. The image above is from Westwoodâs âNostalgia of Mudâ collection of 1982. Despite having studied Westwood before and her early collections such as âPunkatureâ, I had not previously seen this collection. I selected this image over others within the book âVivienne Westwoodâ as I loved the composition of the shoot; itself a reflection of the textured and layered clothing being modelled.
Further research regarding this collection lead me to the âWorlds Endâ website- Westwoodâs 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:
âThe 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.â
Ben Westwood, âNostalgia of Mudâ 2014
http://worldsendshop.co.uk/nostalgia-of-mud/
The information provide by the Website furthered my understanding of Westwoodâs ideas, the shop acting as a further exploration of her concept.
The website however did not provide a explanation of Westwoodâs ideas behind the collection. To further understand this I found an article produced by the V&A which mapped Westwoodâs collections over the decades.
The article explained Westwoodâs intention: âto demonstrate that the roots of our culture lie in primitive societiesâ 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.
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 Westwoodâs 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&Aâs archive of Westwoodâs 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.