‘She broke the rules, fearlessly’: exhibition explores Vivienne Westwood’s revolutionary work

Peter Smithson says he met Westwood on a number of occasions and she lived up to his expectations. Photograph: Gary Calton/The Guardian

Peter Smithson’s wife, Belise, has never minded when he receives a corset from Japan or a pair of fur-trimmed knickers and they are not for her.

“No, she’s never seen it as strange,” said Smithson, a chemistry teacher and Vivienne Westwood supercollector. “She has never judged it. She gets it. She knows it is part and parcel of who I am.”