Book description
The acclaimed biography of one of England's great eccentrics and
leading fashion designers.
• For three decades, Vivienne Westwood has been Britain's most
consistently original, outrageous, eccentric and controversial designer.
In that time she has evolved from an iconoclastic outsider to an
internationally revered figure, with two British Designer of the Year
awards, an OBE, her own successful fashion label and an unrivalled
reputation for leading where other designers follow.
• Her lifestyle could scarcely be in greater contrast to the opulence
which surrounds other leading designers: until recently she lived in a
modest council flat in South London, and she still travels around the
capital by bicycle, dressed in her own flamboyant creations, with a
plastic bag protecting her hair from the elements. How did an awkward
girl from a conventional and provincial background become one of world
fashion's most influential and respected designers? How has she managed
to remain true to her own idiosyncratic vision, refusing to conform to
the fashion industry's, and society's, expectations?
• Speaking to Westwood herself, her friends, lovers, colleagues, rivals,
admirers and detractors, Jane Mulvagh has created a portrait as rich,
distinctive and constantly surprising as her subject's character and
work. 'The most compelling fashion biography for years. Honest, witty,
perceptive, vivid. Each chapter is filled with insights' Suzy Menkes,
International Herald Tribune
'A commanding study. Westwood's life is rendered with intensity and
precision' Simon Garfield, Mail on Sunday
'A very good book: immaculately researched and full of original
observations' Stephen Bayley, Observer
'Nobody could read this book and not understand why it is that Westwood
continues to interest and infuriate in equal measure' Lucia van der
Post, Financial Times Jane Mulvagh is a fashion historian, journalist,
columnist on the Financial Times, author of The Vogue History of 20th
Century Fashion (Viking) and Costume Jewellery in Vogue (Thames and
Hudson). She has known Vivienne Westwood for fifteen years.
