So, let's talk about the hair. That bright, defiant orange that somehow managed to look both like a warning sign and a crown. When you pick up the Vivienne Westwood by Vivienne Westwood book, you aren't just getting a fashion biography. You’re getting a 500-page chaotic, beautiful, and deeply personal collision between a biographer’s polish and a rebel’s raw memories.
Honestly, most people expect a glossy coffee table book filled with pretty pictures of corsets and safety pins. But this thing? It’s different. It’s a "picaresque romp," as some critics put it. It’s a collaboration with Ian Kelly—the guy who wrote about Casanova and Beau Brummell—and that pairing is exactly why the book works. It treats Vivienne not just as a "clothes person," but as a historical figure, a philosopher, and, frankly, a bit of a nightmare for anyone who likes things tidy.
Why this specific book matters now
Vivienne passed away in late 2022, and since then, the market has been flooded with "tributes." But the Vivienne Westwood by Vivienne Westwood book (originally released in 2014) remains the only time she actually sat down to "set the record straight."
Why did she do it? Because she hated the other biographies. Specifically, she called Jane Mulvagh's 1998 unauthorized biography "a lot of rubbish." Her husband, Andreas Kronthaler, basically had to nudge her into doing this one. She didn't want to look back. She was always looking at the next climate protest or the next collection.
But Kelly convinced her. He spent a year shadowing her, from the frantic backstage energy of Paris Fashion Week to the quiet of her home. The result is a hybrid. You get Kelly’s narrative voice—which, admittedly, can be a bit "fan-boy" at times—interspersed with Vivienne’s own block-quoted memories. These quotes are where the real magic is. They are blunt. They are weird. They are 100% her.
The Childhood You Didn't Expect
We all know the Punk Queen. We know the SEX shop on King’s Road. But did you know she was a primary school teacher?
The book dives deep into her roots in Tintwistle, Derbyshire. She grew up in post-war Britain, a world of utility dresses and "make do and mend." There’s a story in there about her seeing a calendar with the Crucifixion on it when she was five. She hadn't been told about it before. She was so outraged by the cruelty that she declared herself a "freedom fighter" right then and there.
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That’s the key to understanding Westwood. It wasn't about the clothes; it was about the injustice.
The Malcolm McLaren Elephant in the Room
You can't talk about Vivienne without talking about Malcolm. And this is where the Vivienne Westwood by Vivienne Westwood book gets heavy.
For years, the narrative was that Malcolm was the "brains" and Vivienne was the "seamstress." This book nukes that idea. It’s candid about their toxic, creative, and often abusive relationship. Her sons, Ben and Joe, chime in here, too. Joe (who co-founded Agent Provocateur) doesn't hold back on how McLaren was a "control freak."
Vivienne herself admits that she only felt she could truly tell her story once Malcolm was gone. It’s a bit sad, really. But it’s also empowering to see her reclaim the 1970s. She wasn't just making T-shirts; she was engineered a cultural earthquake.
A Masterclass in Technique
One thing that gets lost in the "Punk" label is that Vivienne was a technical genius. She was self-taught. She’d take apart 18th-century doublets to see how they were made.
- The Pirate Collection (1981): This was her first catwalk show. It moved away from the jagged lines of punk into "New Romantic" territory.
- The Corset: She took something that was a symbol of female oppression and turned it into outerwear. She made it about strength.
- The Mini-Crini: Mixing the Victorian crinoline with the 1960s miniskirt.
She tells Kelly that fashion is "almost like mathematics." You add and subtract ideas until the equation fits the times.
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The "Everything is Connected" Philosophy
If you're looking for a linear timeline, you're going to get a headache. The book jumps around. It moves from 2014 back to the 40s, then skips to the 80s. It mirrors her brain.
She spends a lot of the latter half of the book talking about "Climate Revolution." Some readers find this annoying. They want to hear about Naomi Campbell falling in the blue mock-croc platforms (which is in there, by the way), but Vivienne wants to talk about fracking and Leonard Peltier.
That’s the "Get a Life" philosophy she lived by. She believed that if you don't have culture—if you don't read books, go to galleries, and understand history—you can't be a good person, let alone a good designer. "Buy less, choose well, make it last." She was saying that decades before "sustainability" became a corporate buzzword.
Real Talk: Is it worth the read?
Kinda depends on what you want.
If you want a dry, academic history of British fashion, maybe look elsewhere. But if you want to feel like you’re sitting in a room with a woman who changed the world while she’s drinking tea and complaining about the government, this is it.
The prose is "sinuous," as one reviewer put it. It’s 464 pages of dense, illustrated, rambling brilliance. It’s not a "quick read." It’s something you sit with.
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What most people miss
The most underrated part of the book is the influence of her second husband, Andreas. He was her former student. People gave them a lot of grief because of the age gap, but the book portrays a deep, intellectual partnership. He gave her the stability to be truly wild.
How to actually use the insights from this book
Reading it is one thing. Living it is another. Here is how you can actually apply the "Westwood Way" to your own life today:
1. Master the "Archivist's Exactitude"
Vivienne didn't just "invent" things out of thin air. She spent thousands of hours in the V&A Museum. If you want to create something new, you have to know what came before. Don't just look at Pinterest; look at history books.
2. The "Buy Less" Challenge
Look at your wardrobe. How much of it is "rubbish" (her favorite word)? Try to go one month without buying anything "fast fashion." If you do buy something, make sure it’s something you’ll still want to wear in 2040.
3. Find Your "Crucial Creative Dialogue"
Vivienne always worked in pairs—first Malcolm, then Andreas. Find someone who challenges your ideas rather than just agreeing with them. Tension creates better art than harmony ever will.
4. Educate Yourself Beyond Your Field
She famously said, "I don't find fashion interesting." She found ideas interesting. Read a book on a topic you know nothing about. Go to a museum you've never visited. The "cross-pollination" of ideas is where the magic happens.
Ultimately, the Vivienne Westwood by Vivienne Westwood book isn't just a memoir; it's a manifesto. It’s a call to be more curious, more angry at injustice, and a lot more stylish while you're at it. It’s the story of a girl from Derbyshire who decided she was a freedom fighter at age five and never, ever stopped fighting.