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Ian Kelly
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Vivienne Westwood
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Vivienne Westwood Hardcover – October 1, 2014

by Vivienne Westwood (Author), Ian Kelly (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 379 ratings
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Vivienne Westwood is one of the icons of our age. Fashion designer, activist, co-creator of punk, global brand, and grandmother; she is a true living legend. Her career has successfully spanned five decades, and her work has influenced millions of people across the world. For the first and only time, Vivienne Westwood has written a personal memoir, collaborating with award-winning biographer Ian Kelly, to describe the events, people, and ideas that have shaped her extraordinary life. Told in all its glamor and glory, and with her unique voice, unexpected perspective, and passionate honesty, this is her story.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    464 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Picador
  4. Publication date
    October 1, 2014
  5. Dimensions
    6.25 x 2 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9781447254126
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1447254126
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dame Vivienne Westwood is a leading fashion designer and political activist. Ian Kelly is the prize-winning biographer of Casanova, Beau Brummell, Samuel Foote and Antonin Carême.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1447254120
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Picador; Reprints edition (October 1, 2014)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781447254126
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1447254126
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.6 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 2 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 379 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Ian Kelly

    Ian Kelly

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    I am a dramatist and actor as well as historical biographer - so I spend a lot of time imaginatively in the past, and in archives and libraries, but also on stage. Pretty much everything I have written as non-fiction has then had a life on the stage or screen - COOKING FOR KINGS became an Off Broadway play and is in development as a TV series, BEAU BRUMMELL became a TV film, MR FOOTE's OTHER LEG the biography became a West End play of the same name, and CASANOVA has just been adapted as a ballet, at Sadlers Wells in London most recently. Current works include a new book about Shakespeare, and screenplays about Robert Burns and about Handel's Messiah, amongst other adventures!

    I grew up in Philadelphia, USA, and then in the South West of England and then Merseyside. I am a graduate of Cambridge (Trinity Hall, reading History) and of UCLA's film school and now live with my partner, two children and assorted dogs, cats and chickens in Suffolk and London and if we are lucky in LA and New York...actually, on reflection, the animals stay in Suffolk...

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  2. Vivienne Westwood

    Vivienne Westwood

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    Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
379 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Slosiren
5.0 out of 5 stars great
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2014
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this book was for my daughter , she loves it as much as she loves Dame Vivienne. This book is only available in UK but this seller makes it available without the hassle of worrying about customs and possible long delays.
2 people found this helpful
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Nicole Knafelc
5.0 out of 5 stars As expected
Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2019
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As expected
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2016
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I loved this book, and I love Vivienne Westwood, she has such an interesting life, and way of seeing life...
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Martina A. Nicolls
4.0 out of 5 stars On reading ... I love her even more
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2015
Vivienne Westwood, the book, is part memoir and part biography of the British icon of fashion. It is not really “co-written” by Westwood – it is more “as spoken to Kelly” because her words are in quotations. But they are extensive. Kelly adds detailed commentaries and summaries of her conversations with him. In addition there are lengthy quotations from associates, her brother Gordon, her two sons Ben (from her first husband Derek Westwood) and Joe (from her second relationship with Malcom McLaren). For some readers this may detract from the flow, but I found it okay except for a few times when I had to check who was making the comments.

The book commences with the 2014 Paris week before starting from the beginning (1941) – from then onwards it is a chronological memoir. It sets the scene of the early 1960s at a time when her first husband briefly managed musicians before most were famous, such as The Who, John Lennon, and Eric Clapton – all emerged from art schools, as Vivienne did. It was a time of the “crossover from art to music and from graphics to sales and marketing … into running businesses that fused pop iconography, fashion, music, and happenings.”

After a brief marriage to Derek, it was her relationship with Malcolm McLaren (her brother’s friend) to 1979 that was intrinsic to her fame. McLaren, the provocative British musician, artist, and band manager of Sex Pistols, brought anarchy, radicalism, and “a restive atmosphere” to Westwood. The volatile relationship also brought a “safe island of creative complicity.” Hence Westwood’s punk period began, as did their iconic shop at 430 Kings Road, “the epicentre of a global fashion revolution.” It was where they reinvented and rebranded fashion, starting with embellishments, slogans, and graphics on T-shirts.

The book details the shop, the clothes, the cuttings, the designs, the partnerships, the journey, the “power to disturb” and the “politicization of clothing.” While many viewed it as the “sexually ambiguous fusion of world-worn … razor-sharp mod, threatening rocker … and safety pins” others viewed it as “degenerate, puerile and willfully ugly.” The book continues with the business, the expansions, the designing, and the making of the fashion.

Vivienne Westwood, the maverick ideas person, was on her own from 1982. While her designs were having a wider impact she “needed to find better, faster and more responsive manufacturers.” During her Italian period she added her name to her designs, and a logo. Her dictum was now, “the more creative you are the more you need a structure.” She moved into her collections and high culture period, as well as human and ecological activism.

The book concludes with her relationship with her husband, designer, and creative partner Andreas Kronthaler, twenty-five years her junior. It tells of their first meeting in 1989 when she was 48 and he was her 23-year-old student. Kronthaler gives a detailed account of his impression the very second he saw her. The rest is history.
4 people found this helpful
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KathMar
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2016
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Delivered exactly as described. Thank you!
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Michael D
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2016
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LOVE IT!!!!!!
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Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Westwood boring?
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2016
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A bit boring. Read the out of print "An unfashionable life" by Jane Mulvagh for a much better (& trashy) account of the greatest fashion designer of the late 20th & 21st century.
2 people found this helpful
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aaron hochberg
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2015
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the book is the book
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Top reviews from other countries

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Mary Taylor
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good - fascinating life!
Reviewed in Canada on April 29, 2022
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Vivienne is iconic. Well written and fascinating account of her remarkable life so far. Loved it.
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fiona spreadborough
5.0 out of 5 stars A true British icon now gone
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 10, 2023
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I bought this book in 2020 as I love Vivvie and wanted to write a play based around her and I did actually but have never put it on yet as she has now passed sadly. Its a full read from her beginnings to the present day and it is packed with stories and her struggles and about Malcolm of course and her beginnings with the iconic ripped and safety pin t-shirts made in her flat. Its a great read if you love her and fashion and the history of punk and how she helped put it on the map and all her reinventions of fashion and her activism. Love her and miss her, there will never be another.
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fiona spreadborough
5.0 out of 5 stars A true British icon now gone
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 10, 2023
I bought this book in 2020 as I love Vivvie and wanted to write a play based around her and I did actually but have never put it on yet as she has now passed sadly. Its a full read from her beginnings to the present day and it is packed with stories and her struggles and about Malcolm of course and her beginnings with the iconic ripped and safety pin t-shirts made in her flat. Its a great read if you love her and fashion and the history of punk and how she helped put it on the map and all her reinventions of fashion and her activism. Love her and miss her, there will never be another.
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One person found this helpful
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Ivo
5.0 out of 5 stars Vivienne unica ed irripetibile
Reviewed in Italy on August 22, 2019
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Il volume che deve esserci nella casa di chi ama gli anni punk e pop della moda. Ritratto di una Signora icona, unica ed irripetibile.
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Cocosan
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirierende Lesefreude
Reviewed in Germany on February 11, 2016
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Dieses Buch bringt den Leser in den "doing-Modus". Tolle Frau, super geschrieben. Es ist ein toller Einblick in die damalige Londoner Szene.
One person found this helpful
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Sarah Furuya
5.0 out of 5 stars Love it
Reviewed in Japan on February 5, 2015
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An exciting journey into the mind and life of an incredible person. At the leading edge of so many revolutions. And insight into the importance of family and happy supportive parenting and one of the most beautiful books I own. It is bound and has been produced beautifully. I'm just at the end of the punk period and the beginning of Bowwowwow and it is like a trip into my developmental years. Authority, confidence and radical authenticity. Love it.
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