In ‘Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist’ Vivienne Westwood proves herself to be nothing but a deranged hypocrite and fruit loop
Dame Vivienne Westwood DBE, RDI is definitely an achiever. She singlehandedly made punk and new wave fashion mainstream and she’s made a fortune for herself in the process. The sad thing about this woman, however, and what utterly grates with ordinary people is that she is also a total hypocrite.
First screened on the BBC on 26th October, Westwood’s personality comes out in Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist and what is shown is far from pleasant. Aside from illustrating herself as utterly batshit crazy, the fashion designer pompously begins by announcing: “My clothes are timeless,” before going on to state: “The Sex Pistols… I invented them.”
Moving on, Westwood bizarrely claims her clothes are inspired by “Greek peasants, bandits in the countryside and the kind of thing you might have seen at the Battle of Culloden.” Back to the Sex Pistols, the diatribe continues: “You’re telling me I’ve got to talk about them? I can’t be bothered with them either… Johnny Rotten: He has unfortunately not changed. He should have changed to something else by now.”
Of why she came to be a designer, Westwood announces: “I did feel I had to be like a knight to stop the people doing terrible things to each other. And I think that has something to do with my fashion clothes.”
Of marriage and society in general, she remarks: “What we was living was the American dream. The housewife, all crisp. And hubby comes home. And that’s it. That’s all you see. But the American dream stops there… What a load of bollocks that is.”
Of her significantly younger and somewhat camp second husband (she’s 78 and he’s 53), Westwood states: “I met Andreas [Kronthaler] in Austria. He was really cheeky. He even had fleas at one point, but it was very romantic… The best compliment I can pay Andreas is that I like being with him as much as I do being on my own.”
“I don’t consider myself a fashion designer at all… I’m a mess and from the mess we can create,” Westwood adds, before suggesting that “everyone in the British media laughed at me.” Admittedly this all round oddity – who was turfed out of the Green Party over her decision to base her companies in the tax haven that is Luxembourg – is financially successful, but the ethics of that do not get a mention here. Instead, viewers get to see this all-round busybody traversing the globe telling others ‘Megain Markle-style’ how they ought to be doing more for the environment yet stupidly pointing out: “I can’t believe how many pairs of fucking plastic shoes we sell.”
No reference to how the Vivienne Westwood Group was ranked 0/36 “don’t buy” on the independent Rank a Brand website (which “assesses and ranks consumer brands on sustainability and social responsibility”) is made in this PR puff piece, but instead the focus is on what can only be described as the “me, myself and I” of this ghastly woman. In announcing “everybody loves me,” the final reveal of the true character of Westwood is shown: Here is someone who is out of touch with reality and simply nothing other than off the scale nuts.
Westwood – described by her bitchy diva-esque husband as being like a “crazy aunty” – has the final word in the show and concludes: “I can’t be bothered. Who wants to listen to all this stuff?” It’s about the only thing she gets right in the entire 78 minutes.
To watch ‘Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist’ click here.
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