The death this week of British fashion maverick Vivienne Westwood for many Canberrans brought back memories of the blockbuster retrospective exhibition of her work at the National Gallery of Australia during the 2004-05 summer.
The exhibition, curated by London's Victoria and Albert Museum, included clothing worn by the Sex Pistols in the 1970s to the infamous shoes in which Naomi Campbell toppled over on the catwalk in 1993, to pieces worn by Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie in Sex and the City. It was attended by 60,000 people.
An invite to the opening night of Vivienne Westwood 34 Years in Fashion at the National Gallery in Canberra in November 2004 was quite the golden ticket, the building heaving with fashionistas.
But Westwood herself never attended the exhibition.
She was apparently scared of flying and instead sent her husband and co-designer Andreas Kornthaler.
The National Gallery also has key pieces by Westwood in its collection.
Westwood died in London on December 29 aged 81.
The National Gallery's director, Dr Nick Mitzevich, paid tribute to the designer.
"Westwood was an iconoclast who operated within the system. She was astute enough to recognise that real disruption happens at the centre not at the edges; she always used her platform to draw attention to the most pressing issues of our time, namely climate change," he said.
"She was an activist designer, but also aware that fashion remains one of the biggest contributors to pollution. In this sense she remained a provocateur to the end, exhorting people to buy less, declaring, 'If you ask me what I think people should be getting next season, I'll tell you what I'd like them to buy - nothing. I'd like people to stop buying and buying and buying' . Even as this created a conundrum for her own brand.
"She was arguably one of the great political artists of her time, outspoken and unapologetic."
