LFW AW19/20: Vivienne Westwood

WITH a tight London Fashion Week show schedule and Vivienne Westwood’s show due to start in 25 minutes, I rushed to the nearest bus stop to see how I could make it to St John’s Smith Square for 2 pm. I soon realised a bus was not going to be a realistic option, all roads around The Thames had been shut down by Extinction Rebellion, a nonviolent direct action protest group protesting for governments to treat the threats of climate breakdown and extinction as a crisis. Blocking off five main bridges in London, the protest was one of the largest peaceful protests London had seen in decades. Their message was powerful, and a fitting start to my journey to the show.

Taking similar action, Westwood’s show slash theatrical performance, featured short monologues and mini-speeches unpicking and dissecting climate change to its core. With the help of her activist friends, such as Rose McGowan, Daniel Lismore and Sara Stockbridge, who either stomped, danced or sat stationary down the catwalk with a microphone in hand, Westwood told the audience that 7 billion people don’t know the truth. If we continue unknowingly in the way we do, says Westwood, there will only by 1 billion of us left on the planet by the close of the century, quoting scientists who “know this will happen, but they don’t know exactly when”. At one point, the UK director of Greenpeace, environmentalist John Sauven, even took to the stage to cement early comments with figures and sobering statistics.

The show was unapologetically critical of fuel companies, specifically Shell, as well as the governments that are allowing them to thrive. In addition to capitalist fuel, Brexit, Westwood claimed in the show, is the crime, and culture, is the solution, “if we had a culture we would not be in this mess”, encouraging the audience to read and digest more. Using the catwalk as a prime example, Westwood sent shirts and trousers emblazoned with slogans such as “buy less” and “consumption is the enemy” down the runway, which, although an odd rhetoric to take whilst promoting your fashion collection, is a powerful and meaningful one all the same.

Despite the message being slightly sporadic at points, the clothes were consistently Vivienne Westwood. Dresses were corseted and draped to produce elegant volume from the waist down, tweed print was aplenty, and hand knitted jumpers were deconstructed and oversized. Heading back to her punk roots, Westwood designed kilts in micro size, jeans were sprayed with bleach, and bronze metal hardware jewellery with an unnervingly sharp edge was styled with hand-painted fabrics ripped at the seams.

A favourite moment of mine was the peach coloured silk gown flowing down the runway, the beauty of the construction was a statement in itself. The gown embodied timeless elegance and dressing it on a mature model was greatly appreciated.

Refreshingly honest and with a poignant sense of hope, the Vivienne Westwood show really did make you rethink the weekend filled fashion frenzy we had just celebrated. As the show came to a close, Westwood came out to give it a happy ending. Singing a jingle about London as she weaved through the models taking their final walk, everyone watched with smiles on their faces and left in a spirit of hope. I felt inspired to put what I had learnt in the show to good use and to speak out more, admittedly not with a microphone wearing a micro kilt but in my own way. The Vivienne Westwood AW19/20 show was a presentation of ideas more than clothes, and what a timely one it was.

by Lily Rimmer