Object: Ensemble
Designer:
Vivienne Westwood
(British, 1941 - 2022)
Date: 1982-1983
Medium: Brown satin, cotton, gray crochet knit, and brown suede
Country: England
Credit Line: Museum purchase
Object number: 2003.97.4
Descriptioncoordinates; brown satin bra, brown heavy cotton dirndl wrap skirt with green Indian print on hem band and gray frayed crochet trim, and short, flat rustic boots in beige and brown mottled suede
Label Text:Vivienne Westwood is one of the most important designers to have emerged from London in the late 20th century. Her stylistic extremism was initially associated with the punk subculture, but by the 1980s she had moved on to explore new ideas, such as the clothing of the past and of other cultures. Her third solo collection, Buffalo (1982), also called Nostalgia de la Boue [Nostalgia of Mud], incorporated cross-cultural, “tribal” themes. The skirts, for example, were inspired by the clothing of Peruvian women. Westwood’s program notes also urged the reader to “Take your mother’s old brassiere and wear it undisguised over your school jumper [sweater].” The idea of underwear-as-outerwear would prove immensely influential.
In Collection(s)
Exhibitions:
- Vivienne Westwood 1980-1989
- Fashion & Textile History Gallery First Rotation