In my research project I went looking for something that really struck me while analyzing Vivienne Westwood’s latest collections and labels. She started her collections living in a punk era filled ideals, fighting against the mainstream society, this was very obvious in her early work. Though, looking at her collections from this era I see a soft version of the work she used to make, seen in the style, color and fabric she used. In my opinion punk now has a small role in the influence of making her later collections. I feel that the edge is off and that it has smoothed out over time. I still think her work is really fantastic, but that is not what matters right now. I know she still follows several ideals like using Eco-materials with print on t-shirts that refer to how people treat nature.
But why did she change her image and became softer as she was. An image changes over the years, but is this a new way of rebellion by expressing herself in a softer way? Why doesn’t it come across as a rebellion to me, can we make a statement in a fancy wardrobe? After studying her collections I thought to myself that I might have became a custom to the fashion of today and versatility of showing itself.
After doing some research I came upon a project called the Worlds End Shop:
The World’s End Collection is a range put together personally by Vivienne Westwood in which she has selected her favorite pieces from the archive as an antidote to the transient nature of trends. There are styles worthy of repeating over and over again and through the World’s End Collection Vivienne is able to offer her loyal and new fans alike pieces which are her favorites and which they can purchase even after the season is over.
Created with wastefulness in mind, the collection makes use of leftover fabrics and off cuts from previous seasons to minimize the squandering of the earth’s resources. As such, quantities are produced based on what length of fabric is left. Garments are therefore produced in limited runs and some are unique. Fabrics combined in one garment are carefully chosen by Vivienne to complement each other and are used until they run out. This makes each piece a limited edition.
After I had read the concept of the Worlds Ends Collection I saw that we not always need to rebel in a way as was done in the punk-era. We can change our approach to maybe attrackt a bigger audience. By using smaller details while still getting the message across.
WORLD\’S END SHOP