It is 1992 and a pioneering fashion designer has just been awarded an OBE by the Queen. She is standing outside Buckingham Palace, posing proudly in a grey skirt suit with platform heels. She does a celebratory twirl for the press – and inadvertently flashes them all. She isn’t wearing knickers. The woman is Dame Vivienne Westwood. Thirty years later, upon the news of Westwood’s death at the age of 81, a photograph of the scene has become one of the most circulated images on social media.
It’s a moment that captured so much of what the late fashion designer stood for. She was rebellious. She was liberated. Crucially, she was anti-establishment. All of this and more is what the fashion industry will remember as it mourns the loss of one of its most iconic talents, who passed away “peacefully” in London on Thursday. Westwood’s husband and business partner, Andreas Kronthaler, will continue to lead her namesake label.
