“I want you to help me save the world, I can’t do it all on my own,” Dame Vivienne Westwood posthumously tells visitors from a screen as they arrive at Christie’s auction house, where 200 items of clothing, jewellery, and shoes, pulled from the hangers in her wardrobe, are on display ahead of their sale at a concurrent live and online auction in aid of Amnesty International, Médecins Sans Frontières, Greenpeace and The Vivienne Foundation until June 28.
Westwood, who died at her home in Clapham in December 2022, was admired both as one of the most important fashion designers of all time and for her lifelong commitment to eco activism. Christie’s collection is classic Westwood: Anglomania, sharp tailoring, Harris Tweed, slogan t-shirts, 18th century inspired corsets – all synonymous with the fashion house. But it’s the ghost of the designer that stops you in your tracks.
