“I am the proof. “You cannot turn your back on tradition,” said Vivienne Westwood, the British fashion designer who marked a before and after in punk and new wave aesthetics, taking advantage of the textile and printing roots of her homeland. Next December 29 will mark one year since her death, but her designs are still fully current and the brand that bears her name continues to parade in London under the direction of Jeff Banks, the current creative director.
Westwood's fashion career began in the 1970s, with the emergence of punk music, led by the Sex Pistols. Westwood had a turbulent relationship with the manager of the band led by Sid Vicious, Malcolm McLaren. Together they opened a small store at number 430 King's Road, in the British capital, and there they began to sell groundbreaking collections with the prevailing aesthetics of the time, from Pirate to Nostalgia of Mud and Witches, whose purpose was provocation and change. social in an explosive stage politically speaking in the United Kingdom. As Paul Gorman explains in the biography The Life
“We are talking about one of the most iconoclastic prints that exist. For centuries it dressed the wealthiest families in Scotland and, therefore, when it was banned in 1746 by the British conquerors after several Jacobin revolts in the Highlands, it became a banner of freedom. Hence, in the eighties Westwood and The Sex Pistols turned it into a symbol of punk and later, in a disheveled version, it also became the symbol of the grunge movement,” explains Maximilian Dunn, professor of cultural anthropology at the prestigious Central fashion school. Saint Martins of London.
Its historical legacy as a libertarian emblem was what caused the punk movement to adopt the tartan as the shield of its anti-establishment philosophy, as could be seen at the MET gala in New York Punk: Chaos to Couture, in May 2013 and in the exhibition consequently throughout that spring. “Since its origins, punk has had an incendiary influence on fashion. Although its democracy opposes the autocracy of fashion, designers continue to appropriate an aesthetic vocabulary typical of punk to capture youthful rebellion and its forceful aggressiveness,” commented Andrew Bolton, curator of the Costume Institute and organizer of the MET gala along with Anna Wintour.
Westwood always saw the catwalk as an ideal speaker to achieve important changes in matters such as civil rights or climate change, as we can read in the designer's memoirs Get a Life! The Diaries of Vivienne Wetswood. “Buy less. Choose well. Make it last. Quality, not quantity. “Everyone is buying too many clothes,” she reflected. She was such an activist until her death, at which time “many who had criticized her designs saying that she did not offer clothing comparable to other names that paraded like her in the most important Fashion Weeks gave up and admitted that she was a truly amazing pattern maker.” more perfectionist and tenacious and an insurgent visionary who even brought bondage to the catwalk.
In the same way, we owe it to her and her adoration for the tartan that today celebrities like Harry Styles and Jared Leto walk the red carpet with this checkered print. Even great British models and It-girls have walked for Westwood, from Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss to Alexa Chung,” Dunn points out.
Don't be confused, tartan is not just any checkered pattern. It is a fabric that is constructed with vertical and horizontal stripes in different tones to form a checkered pattern, repeated on a colored background. The interwoven stripe pattern is known as sett. This is how we see it one more season in several brands, from the proposals of the Westwood house, with asymmetric skirts, men's suits and endless accessories to the essentials of Burberry, a brand that during the First World War printed its particular beige, black tartan , red and white inside the trench coats worn by the high ranks of the British Army. From then on, Hollywood would make sure that both the trench coat and the tartan conquered the big screen.
Adding to the furor over this print from the Scottish Highlands this fall is British designer Molly Goddard, who has dressed Harry Styles for the cover of his latest album. Added to it are haute couture brands from other countries, such as Dior, with maxi skirts and coats in this print, and Dolce
In our country, and for this season, tartan is one of the star prints of the collections of circular economy brands such as Thinking Mu, with suits that provide a pop touch to the classicism embedded in tartan. For their part, Llamazares y de Delgado chooses to reinterpret the Scottish tartan in variations of greens, blues and grays, alternating checks and stripes. In turn, its latest collection includes wool suits in the classic Buchanan tartan, with a gray background with black, white and burgundy stripes. The proposals from Designer's Society and Yerse lean towards the most minimalist line of these Scottish paintings, seeking the elegance of another print with also historical origins: the Prince of Wales.
According to The Business of Fashion, citing a report from luxury resale website Poshmark, searches for vintage Vivienne Westwood bags increased 310% in the last year. Now, and as a clear tribute, the brand The Vampire's Wife, run by Susie Cave, wife of singer Nick Cave, launches a collection of bags and suitcases in collaboration with Globe-Trotter. Red, black and white as complements to maxi dresses in tartan and puffed sleeves.
"I'm very fortunate. The public liked me, by chance. Maybe he likes me because I use every opportunity to speak out about injustice.” This is what Vivienne Westwood expressed in her memoirs and, if there is one reason she continues to be remembered and idolized by many generations, it is because of her persistence. “I design to help people express their personality,” she said. Like every clan that has her identity tartan, this extraordinary designer has left her mark on the history of fashion.
