Vivienne Westwood Exhibit Opens Today

‘Fashion’s just life, and I do believe that appearances are everything’

In 2008 Millennium Galleries plays host to the work of Vivienne Westwood, one of the most influential fashion designers of the last 30 years. On tour internationally since 2004, this is the only chance to see the V&A’s blockbuster exhibition in the UK before it closes.

‘The only reason I’m in fashion is to destroy the word ‘conformity’. Nothing’s interesting to me unless it’s got that element’

Vivienne Westwood’s career stretches from anarchic beginnings in the punk era of the 1970’s to her present-day iconic status within the world of high fashion. Her inventiveness is revealed here in over 150 exhibits from her personal archive and the V&A’s collections. It spans the extremes of fashion, from the streets of London to the Parisian catwalks, and her own evolution from subversive shop owner to fashion doyenne.

‘I still adore what remains of the British tradition in clothes’

The exhibition will look at Westwood’s often subversive adaptation of British traditions and gentle parodies of royalty and will include sections devoted to tailoring, tartan and accessories. The famous blue mock-croc platform shoes Naomi Campbell wore when she fell on the catwalk in 1993 will be on display, alongside fabulous corsets, the famous Mini-Crini collection, and a wide selection of lavish fashion photography.

For ladies who lunch, Top Shop princesses, and tweed-loving gents across the North – Millennium Gallery is the home of fashion this Spring and Summer.

For more info visit SGMT

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