The Relation Between Fashion Design of Vivienne Westwood and Her Political Attitude

비비안 웨스트우드의 패션디자인과 정치 성향의 관계

Vivienne Westwood could be placed in a unique position in the contemporary fashion design. She has never belonged in a core group of mainstream fashion designer but not been always in an outsider position. She got from mainstream fashion designer circles enormous appreciation, even established fashion industry was influenced by her fashion design. She began her fashion design with rebellious T-shirts like 'destroy' T-shirt, chicken-bone T-shirt, and nipple-zipper T-shirt, all of which revealed her disgust against establishment. All these T-shirts testify her total negation tendency in her youth. However, she did not continue to keep such a kind of total negation attitude against establishment In 1980s she changed her political attitude towards establishment, and this change also found a reflection in her fashion design. In her pirate-collection the dark image of her fashion in the 1970s changed into a totally different bright image with full of gold colour. Although this collection had radiated brightness, it contained still outsider character from mainstream fashion design. The following fashion design in 1980s and 1990s evolved further on the line of Pirate-collection, but they continued to contain certain outsider characteristics. Vivienne Westwood kept some kind of anti-establishment attitude, and this attitude more or little came to the surface of her design. She was always political and critical to the establishment. In 2005, in her 64, she designed a liberty T-shirt, which showed her political attitude and her engagement in social issues. Also it showed the change from the early total negation to the constructive critical affirmation. In this paper the relation between the fashion design of Vivienne Westwood and her political attitude and the influence of her political attitude to her fashion design is analyzed.