Vivienne Westwood: The London Look Poem by Paula Glynn

Vivienne Westwood born 8th April 1941
Christened Vivienne Isabel Swire
In Tintwistle in Cheshire England
A young girl to a woman that wanted to have fun
Sadly passing away on the 29th December in 2022
Vivienne Westwood a gorgeous 81 years old
Having lived the London look throughout her life and youth
Her fashion designs like hotcakes being sold

Her last home being Clapham in London England
A place where she had - and even when old -
A famous and beautiful designer face
Her designer clothes always first in the fashion race
The fashion industry celebrating Vivienne Westwood
Her surname to come about after marrying
Derek Westwood in 1962 to 1965
Their reasons for divorcing sadly their own

Dame Vivienne Westwood bringing about
Punk and new wave fashions onto the scene
Her designers making people excitedly scream
Viewing punk music and fashion as a way of
'Seeing if one could put a spoke in the system'
A statement famous the world over
Her fashion designs as famous as Coca-Cola
Even though with a father a factory worker and greengrocer

The university of Westminster
Greeting a young Vivienne
To do a jewellery and silversmith course
'I didn't know how a working-class girl
Like me could possibly make a living in the art world'
Yet after taking a job in a factory
Yet after becoming a primary school teacher
Vivienne Westwood did: fun like a little kid

Creating her own funky and also dainty jewellery
Which she sold at a stall on Portobello Road
She was to meet and fall in love with Derek Westwood
A Hoover factory apprentice in Harrow
In 1963 giving birth to a son she named Benjamin
Her family life complete for a while
Her son making her happy and making her smile
Knowing he would grow into a mature and wise man

All this effort and life experiences worthwhile
For Vivienne Westwood was to meet someone new
Malcolm McLaren moving to Thurleigh Court in Balham
Their son Joseph Corré was born in 1967
A son coming straight from heaven
Vivienne Westwood a fabulous mother
Still teaching until 1971 and creating clothes
McLaren managing the band The Sex Pistols

'I was messianic about punk,
Seeing if one could put a spoke in the system in some way'
And Vivienne was right about this: she did have her way
Throughout her life she designed clothing for famous bands:
Adam and the Ants and the Sex Pistols
1988-91 as 'The Pagan Years'
During which 'Vivienne's heroes changed from punks and ragamuffins
To Tatler girls wearing clothes that parodied the upper class'

From 1985 to 1987, Westwood took inspiration
The ballet Petrushka to design the mini-crini,
An abbreviated version of the Victorian crinoline
Its mini-length, bouffant silhouette inspired
The puffball skirts widely presented by
More established designers such as Christian Lacroix
Vivienne Westwood an innovative and creative woman
Who never neglected her family through her working life

Vivienne Westwood working with Richard Branson
Designing uniforms for the Virgin Atlantic crew
From the sky these airplane workers having a view
Of the world where Vivienne Westwood lit the fuse
Her fashion designs popular and to cruise
The never-ending sky, caring about the environment
Caring about affordable - yet stylish and modern - clothing
That Average Joe and Jane can enjoy

Westwood speaking out against what she perceived as the 'drug of consumerism'
In a 2007 interview, saying: 'I don't feel comfortable defending my clothes.
But if you've got the money to afford them,
Then buy something from me.
Just don't buy too much' in response to claims
That anti-consumerism and fashion contradict each other
Vivienne Westwood later creating a manifesto called
‘Active Resistance to Propaganda' to help climate change

In 1993 Vivienne Westwood to design
The Duran Duran Wedding Album suits
The Dita Von Teese wearing a purple Westwood gown
Her formal wedding ceremony when she married Marilyn Manson in 2005
Fantastic fashion and style very much alive
Especially in 2011, Princess Eugenie wearing three Westwood designs
The pre-wedding dinner, the wedding ceremony and the after-wedding party
At the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton

Vivienne Westwood working her entire life
A legend and figurehead to the fashion world
Where once a pretty and innocent girl
To overtake and run the big wide fashion world
Her vibrant and fabulous clothing still worn today
Her designs original, carefully tailored and detailed
People loving the textures, colours and materials
For the fashion world sees Vivienne Westwood the ultimate legend.