Dame Vivienne Westwood became the Godmother of punk rock and then a global fashion icon, but she never forgot her Peak District roots. She was born Vivienne Swire on April 8th 1941 in the village of Tintwistle, Glossop, just 13 miles from Manchester.
Her parents Gordon and Dora had married two years earlier. Her father worked as a storekeeper in an aircraft factory, and was later a greengrocer and postmaster.
Dame Vivienne, who died yesterday aged 81, chose her former school, known as Glossop Comprehensive when she attended, and now Glossopdale Community College to launch Global Entrepreneurship Week UK2015 for the government-backed Entrepreneurs4schools.
A former teacher, she seized the opportunity to express her views, reportedly telling students at the launch: “The lie is that the migrant crisis is a temporary one. The migrant crisis is set to become four times worse due to Climate Change and water shortage. We are all victims of lies. The only route forward is a green economy.
“The rotten financial system is causing environmental damage. Wars are fought for raw materials. Add into that cheap labour which is creating environmental ruin. The crux of it all is that everything is subsidised by debt. The system is designed to create poverty."
The same year she drove a tank to the then Prime Minister, David Cameron's homes in Oxfordshire in protest against fracking. She told students at her old school: “Fracking, championed by this government, will cause energy insecurity and increase global warming
“Fracking will cause economic chaos, property values will crash, roads will be congested and damaged, people will not be able to get to work businesses will suffer and we will be poisoned, it must be stopped We must have a culture rather than consumption. Glossopdale Community College by way of example, can lead the green economy”.
Yesterday in response to her death, Thom Hetherington, champion of Manchester’s food and drink scene and a vocal advocate of arts in the north posted on social media: "This is hugely affecting. My maternal grandad taught her at Glossop Comp, and she invited him to her V&A retrospective many decades later. She regularly returned to inspire local schoolkids, right up to recently.
"I love the idea that someone from a small town can shape the world Global/local is a hack phrase, but she both bestrode the world yet also never forgot her roots. Which is spectacular and admirable, all at the same time."
When she was made a Dame in the Queen's New Year's Day Honours List in 2004 she told her local newspaper, the Glossop Advertiser: "This is an honour. I think the honours system helps to bind together the fabric of British society. I have been very lucky to have a career in which I can develop my potential as a designer.
"My liberty is my most fortunate possession. I hope this honour will give strenght to my voice. There must be no deention without trial in great democracies like Britain and the US." When she collected the honour it was her second trip to the palace after leaving a lasting impression in 1992 when she twirled for the cameras after collecting her OBE and revealed she was wearing no knickers.
Dame Vivienne's talent has made her one of the world's most famous and outrageous fashion designers. Celebrities dressed by her include the Sex Pistols and pop singer Gwen Stefani, and the stars of TV's Sex In The City, - as well as Glossop's Van Gogh Ted. The treasured 'Van Gogh Ted' teddy bear became the face of a new arts initiative at the college
Dame Viviene moved with her family to London in 1957 and she completed one term at the Harrow Art School taking a jewellery and silversmith course. She later said: "I didn't know how a working class girl like me could possibly make a living in the art world."
A mural featuring Dame Vivienne was created on the side of a building in Glossop earlier this year by local street artist, 'Deggy'. Actress Kim Catrall described her as "a true genius who never lost her northern grit."
Replying to Thom Hetherington's post Carovan Studios replied: "It’s amazing that from a rural schoolroom someone could host a thought of cultural protest, change a generation, create a new art, regenerate a dying art, love everyone and be loved by everyone."
Adam Leigh replied: "I've loved her for the longest. I've had a number of her pieces over the years - always distinctly VW. It felt very deliberately that her out-of-London flagship was in Manchester. A sad day."
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