Iconic British fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood has died aged 81.
The legendary designer died on Thursday while surrounded by her family in Clapham, south London, her loved ones said in a statement.
Paying tribute to Dame Vivienne on Thursday evening, her family said that the "world needs more people like Vivienne to make a change for the better".
Her eponymous fashion house announced the sad news on Twitter, writing: "29th December 2022. Vivienne Westwood died today, peacefully and surrounded by her family, in Clapham, South London. The world needs people like Vivienne to make a change for the better."
A cause of death was not disclosed.
Attached to the tweet was a quote from Dame Vivienne, which read: "Tao spiritual system. There was never more need to the Tao today. Tao gives you a feeling that you belong to the cosmos and gives purpose to your life; it gives you such a sense of identity and strength to know you're living the life you can live and therefore ought to be living: make full use of your character and full use of your life on earth."
Added at the bottom of the quote was simply: "Vivienne, we love you."
Tributes for the fashion designer poured in, with Emmerdake actress Lisa Riley writing: "Queen Vivienne Westwood…..you will light up heaven with your endless energy, you will never be forgotten….uniqueness at its all time BEST!!! Rest In Peace Be yourself even in heaven #rip #viviennewestwood #queen #fashion #icon."
While Trevor Sinclair wrote: "Sad to hear Vivienne Westwood has passed condolences to her family such a talented designer, northerner & supporter of the working class RIP."
The Pogues' Spider Stacey wrote: "No words. RIP Video Vivienne Westwood."
TV presenter Jonathan Ross commented: "tweeted: "RIP the great Vivienne Westwood. Unique. Brilliant. Uncompromising. Thanks Viv x".
Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan paid tribute to Dame Vivienne Westwood, writing on Twitter: "A sad day, Vivienne Westwood was and will remain a towering figure in British fashion.
"Her punk style rewrote the rule book in the 1970s and was widely admired for how she stayed true to her own values throughout her life."
Virgin Atlantic also remembered Dame Vivienne Westwood, tweeting: "Rest in peace Dame Vivienne Westwood. A true British icon and the visionary behind our iconic uniform design that we've been proudly wearing since 2014."
The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) described Dame Vivienne Westwood as a "true revolutionary and rebellious force in fashion".
A tweet said: "We are saddened to learn about the passing of legendary designer Vivienne Westwood. A true revolutionary and rebellious force in fashion."
London Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted: "Vivienne Westwood was a creative icon who helped cement the UK at the very forefront of modern fashion. My thoughts are with her family and friends."
The pioneering fashion designer made a name for herself on the fashion scene in the 1970s, with her androgynous designs, slogan t-shirts and irreverent attitude towards the establishment.
She went on to enjoy a long career highlighted by a string of triumphant runway shows in London, Paris, Milan and New York.
The name Westwood became synonymous with style and attitude even as she shifted focus from year to year. Her range was vast and her work was never predictable.
After opening four shops in London, she quickly expanded through Britain and the rest of the world with her innovative designs.
In addition to her work as a designer, Dame Vivienne was vocal in her support of a number of social and political initiatives including campaigning for the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is fighting to avoid being sent to the US to face charges under the Espionage Act.
In July 2020, Dame Vivienne sounded a warning over an Assange "stitch-up" while dressed in canary yellow in a giant bird cage.
Dame Vivienne led a colourful band of protesters chanting "Free Julian Assange" outside the Old Bailey in central London.
Suspended inside the cage, she said: "Don't extradite Assange - it's a stitch-up."
Dita Von Teese's wedding gown and the Westwood Buffalo hat that Pharrell Williams wore to the 56th Grammy Awards were among the many notable commissions she had over the years.
For 30 years, Dame Vivienne lived in an ex-council flat in Nightingale Lane, Clapham, until her husband Andreas Kronthaler - who she wed in 1992 - persuaded her to move into a Queen Anne style house in the same area in 2000.
Andrew Bolton, curator of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of New York, said Westwood would be celebrated for pioneering the punk look, pairing a radical fashion approach with the anarchic punk sounds developed by the Sex Pistols, managed by her then-partner, Malcolm McLaren.
"They gave the punk movement a look, a style, and it was so radical it broke from anything in the past," he said. "The ripped shirts, the safety pins, the provocative slogans. She introduced postmodernism. It was so influential from the mid-70s. The punk movement has never dissipated - it's become part of our fashion vocabulary. It's mainstream now."
Westwood's long career was full of contradictions: She was a lifelong rebel who was honored several times by Queen Elizabeth II. She dressed like a teenager even in her 60s and became an outspoken advocate of fighting global warming, warning of planetary doom if climate change was not controlled.
In her punk days, Westwood's clothes were often intentionally shocking: T-shirts decorated with drawings of naked boys, and "bondage pants" with sadomasochistic overtones were standard fare in her popular London shops. But Westwood was able to make the transition from punk to haute couture without missing a beat, keeping her career going without stooping to self-caricature.
"She was always trying to reinvent fashion. Her work is provocative, it's transgressive. It's very much rooted in the English tradition of pastiche and irony and satire. She is very proud of her Englishness, and still she sends it up," Bolton said.
One of those transgressive and contentious designs featured a swastika, an inverted image of Jesus Christ on the cross and the word "Destroy." In an autobiography written with Ian Kelly, she said it was meant as part of a statement against politicians torturing people, citing Chile's Augusto Pinochet. When asked if she regretted the swastika design in a 2009 interview with Time magazine, Westwood said no.
"I don't, because we were just saying to the older generation, `We don't accept your values or your taboos, and you're all fascists,"' she responded.
She approached her work with gusto in her early years, but over time seemed to tire of the clamor and buzz. After decades of designing, she sometimes spoke wistfully of moving beyond fashion so she could concentrate on environmental matters and educational projects.
"Fashion can be so boring," she told The Associated Press after unveiling one of her new collections at a 2010 show. "I'm trying to find something else to do."
Dame Vivienne leaves behind her husband and sons Ben Westwood and Joseph Corré.
