WESTWOOD WORLD: Some 200 pieces from Vivienne Westwood’s personal wardrobe will go under the hammer at Christie’s in June, with proceeds earmarked for the myriad organizations she supported, including The Vivienne Foundation, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, and Médecins Sans Frontières.
“Vivienne Westwood: The Personal Collection” will feature fashion, jewelry, and accessories spanning four decades, and handpicked by Westwood’s widower Andreas Kronthaler.
The items will be sold through two auctions: a live sale on June 25 in London, and an online auction from June 14 to 28. A free public exhibition showcasing the items will take place at Christie’s headquarters on King Street in London from June 14 to 24.
Kronthaler described his late wife as a “genius, a rebel, an outsider who had a calling to be different, to explode the system. She was an original thinker. Vivienne was our heroine.”
The designer, who died in 2022 at 81, was the mother of punk fashion who later channeled her passion for European history and tailoring techniques into provocative, politically-charged collections.
During her long career, she drew heavily on 18th-century costume and military attire and British tartans and tweeds, which she’d twist, shape, and sometimes slash, to fit her vision and create what would become unique designs.
She loved dressing up, creating personas, and making statements, and the lots in the Christie’s auction reflect those passions.
Among the pieces for sale are a saucy, 18th-century style corset in silver gray silk taffeta and matching floor-length skirt; a knitted day dress with 3D flowers; and a printed dress from the Propaganda collection, one of Westwood’s most overtly political shows. It was named for an essay by Aldous Huxley titled “Propaganda in a Democratic Society.”
Adrian Hume Sayer, Christie’s director of Private and Iconic Collections who is heading the sale, said Westwood’s “sense of activism, art, and style is embedded in each and every piece that she created.”
He added the London exhibition and sale “will celebrate her extraordinary vision with a selection of looks that mark significant moments not only in her career, but also in her personal life. This will be a unique opportunity for audiences to encounter both the public the private world of the great Dame Vivienne Westwood and to raise funds for the causes in which she so ardently believed.”
