From not wearing panties during an official visit to Buckingham Palace to lockdown corsets, the designer's style has been outrageous since the time of the Sex Pistols, when she pioneered the punk style. On the occasion of her 80th birthday, Dame Vivienne Westwood celebrates this important moment with a video message to the world live from Piccadilly Circus.

<a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/vivienne-westwood-interview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Punk icon, activist, and extraordinary designer Vivienne Westwood</a> celebrates her 80th birthday today, April 8. She emerged on the fashion scene in the 1970s, and together with her partner Malcolm McLaren she created the punk style with her androgynous designs, safety pins, slogan T-shirts, and irreverent attitude towards the establishment. Since then, Westwood has continued to push boundaries. Self-taught, she's an advocate of the motto "learning throgh process", that is, of learning by doing things, and is responsible for some cult creations in the history of fashion&nbsp; including her interpretation of the corset, a mini-skirt version of the Victorian crinoline dress, the use of revisited historical English clothing, the pictorial transposition of paintings, and the super tower wedges inspired by 19th century shoes. Not to mention a famous runway moment in which Naomi Campbell fell on the catwalk in 1993.
The <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/female-founded-fashion-houses-coco-chanel-chloe-lanvin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mother of punk</a>, Westwood has always been edgy, as evidenced by a famous photo in which she is joined by Chrissie Hynde and the saleswoman Jordan. They are all standing with their backs to the camera, the bottom painted with letters spelling out the name of the designer's boutique, which in 1977 was called Sex. These were conscious displays; the designer's most infamous revelation, by contrast, was allegedly unplanned and came in 1992 when Westwood went to Buckingham Palace to receive <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/pop-culture/celebrities-with-british-royal-titles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">her OBE</a>. She wore a couture dress with prominent shoulders and a full structured skirt, and when she turned for the cameras and the full skirt flew, it became apparent that she had left her underwear at home. She returned to the Queen's presence in 2004 and to a reporter who asked her if she had or hadn't worn underwear she replied, "don't ask me, the answer is always the same, I don't use panties or briefs if I wear clothes."
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Vivienne Westwood with Andrea Kronthaler

Vivienne Westwood with Naomi Campbell

Vivienne Westwood with Malcom McLaren

Vivienne has received the Ensigne by Prince Charles 

Vivienne Westwood and Her Majesty Elizabeth II

Vivienne Westwood's runway show in 2017 

Westwood's style is not only defined by exhibitionism, but brings her political agenda to the fore. One of her other beliefs is "buy less, buy better," to fight consumerist ideology. An ardent activist, the designer took the idea of ​​using the slogans of causes supported over the years as a fil rouge in her collections: in the form of printing, knitting, and affixing posters on clothing and accessories. More than 40 years into her career, and with a retrospective dedicated to her by London's Victoria &amp; Albert in 2004, Westwood has become increasingly iconic. It is an idea she plays with, also appearing as the protagonist of her brand's advertising campaigns and lookbooks. In fact, Dame Westwood herself proudly displays her legs and exhibits her pull-up stockings, this time without a garter belt, in the spring 2021 lookbook for the Andreas Kronthaler collection (her husband and co-creative director) for Vivienne Westwood.&nbsp;
On the occasion of her 80th birthday, Viviene Westwood celebrates this important anniversary with a video message to the world. To be broadcast live from Piccadilly Circus at 8:21 p.m. British Summer Time, Circa presents a 10-minute video entitled "Do Not Buy A Bomb." Made by Westwood, the short shows the punk icon performing a rewritten version of My Fair Lady's "Without You." Through a warning of society's indifference to impending environmental catastrophes and a cry against the arms trade and its link to climate change, Westwood reflects on an England without people and challenges the public to "Tell the children the truth." The video will also be available to view on <a href="https://circa.art/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Circa's website</a>. Last but not least, to further support the campaign against the use of weapons, a limited edition print by Westwood entitled "Do Not Buy a Bomb" will be available via Circa.

Punk Fashion Icon Vivienne Westwood Turns 80 Today and Launches a Video Message

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