A it turns out, the fashion designer who is defining 2023 bowed out just before the year started. Vivienne Westwood, who died on 29 December, was the buzziest name at the shows this season. Marc Jacobs kicked off the New York catwalks with a collection dedicated to her; a memorial service at Southwark Cathedral was the headline event of London fashion week. Her own label, now designed by her husband Andreas Kronthaler, brought the love to Paris with a show that closed with her granddaughter, Cora Corré, as fashion’s traditional bride – although, this being Westwood, the bride wore a hotpant-length wedding dress and sparkly devil horns.
But the real tributes to the godmother of punk are happening on the street. Everywhere I look I see Westwood. I don’t mean literally, not ghosts, not Fragonard corsets in Tesco. But the remembering of Westwood has reminded me – reminded all of us – that she isn’t just fashion history. She is fashion. And the best tribute to Westwood, it seems to me, is to be a bit more Westwood.
