HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIVIENNE WESTWOOD

Today Vivienne Westwood, British fashion icon turns 80. Born in the English Midlands on April 8, 1941, this year not only celebrates her birthday but also the half-century since her debut in Swinging London and the 40th anniversary of her first runway show destined to consecrate her rebel queen of fashion. She began designing clothes in 1971 with her partner Malcom McLaren, selling them in the historic London boutique at 430 Kings Road. In 1981, the designer walk on the catwalk for the first time: the collection is called Pirates and inaugurates a new season of her creative language, the New Romantic. After the crests, pins and nails of the 70s rebels, come the corsets, the 80s crinolines. In 1992 she was awarded the prestigious Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth. In the same year, the designer married one of her pupils from the Vienna School of Fashion, Andreas Kronthaler, 25 years younger, who from that moment became the right hand until he inherited the creative direction of the brand in 2016.

Malcom McLaren& Vivienne Westwood 1977

Vivienne Westwood with Andreas Kronthaler

 

NEW DESIGNERS:KITTY JOSEPH

Kitty Joseph’s work explores colour and its application on the body through print. On graduation from the Royal College of Art in 2011, she collaborated on projects with milliner Piers Atkinson, long-time mentor and friend, fashion icon Zandra Rhodes, stylist Kim Howells, Lady Gaga, and Carine Roitfeld, amongst others. This was followed by the launch of her own ready-to-wear womenswear label. Several collections on, the brand has grown to acquire many influential stockists worldwide, including Colette in Paris, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and Liger in Hong Kong, amongst others.
Kitty Joseph's signature minimalist shapes evolve each season as a highly wearable canvas for textile concepts.. F/W 2016-17 is a play on colour interactions inspired by Josef Albers's Bauhaus studies, expressed with graphic prints including pixelated gradients, stripes and checks. S/S 2017 is about shifting bands of subtle tones, influenced by the nuances and cloud layers of London's sunset. Kitty's favourite materials are smart fabrics, particularly synthetics, developed for sports and utility wear.
She is noted for her versatility, having worked as a colour consultant for international fashion brands, as visiting lecturer in fashion textile and print design in various courses UK wide, and has undertaken colour trend analysis for leading prediction agencies.

PREVIEW S/S2017