Photograph of Vivienne Westwood in 1977, book chapter ‘Outsider’, photographer unknown Blackman, Cally (2012) 100 Years of Fashion, London

The book I started off with was ‘100 Years of Fashion’ by Cally Blackman. I liked the look of this book because it went through a lot of the different styles in the various decades and included iconic photographs from them. I flicked through the pages and came across a photograph of Vivienne Westwood from 1977 which caught my eye. I was intrigued by the style of the clothes and wanted to find out more about the main influences at the time as well as the designers inspiration. After some further research, I found out that the ‘Bondage Suits’ were part of Vivienne Westwood’s Spring/Summer 1976 collection and comprised of a matching trouser and jacket set. Westwood was inspired by elements of combat and fetish wear but mainly influenced by Punk which was popular with musicians at the time.

‘Bondage Suit’ S/S 1976 By Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O72586/bondage-suit-vivienne-westwood/

As the book had little information on the collection, I then started to search the internet for more information on the garments. I decided to look at the V&A collections as I knew it was a trustworthy source and came across a suit similar to the one worn in the original image. It was featured in an exhibition called ‘Vivienne Westwood: Punk, New Romantic and beyond’ which centred around Vivienne Westwood and her involvement in the Punk era where she created her trademark look. After reading further, I found out that she created garments that she and McLaren sold to young people who were brave enough to wear the edgy style. The use of imagery on the garments were often seen as controversial as they show unclothed parts of the body as well as images that were classed as pornographic. Also the use of a photograph of the Queen with a safety pin through her mouth and a quote saying ‘she ain’t no human being’ was seen as a rebellion against the Royal Family.

https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/vivienne-westwood-punk-new-romantic-and-beyond