Politics of a punk queen

Before Alexander McQueen—that brilliant, subversive, iconoclastic British designer—there was Vivienne Westwood. All the adjectives that apply to him fit Westwood as well, perhaps even better since she lived until 81, while he died young in 2010, at the age of 40.

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Westwood’s passing last week has put the spotlight on this remarkable woman’s glowing career that spanned six decades. Tributes poured in from everyone in fashion. Heck, even from Julian Assange, who requested for parole to attend her funeral. Westwood protested the extradition of Assange to the US by sitting inside a giant suspended bird cage outside a London court in 2020. She was, after all, as much of an activist as she was a designer.

It would be an understatement to say Westwood’s contributions to fashion are immense. Her reach was so far and wide, and game-changing. Yes, this was one woman, a former primary school teacher, whose works continue to inspire the industry even today— from Versace to Balenciaga.