LONDON — Cora Corré has resigned from the Vivienne Westwood company and will work full-time for the foundation that her paternal grandmother founded.
Corré is the daughter of Joe Corré, Westwood’s son with Malcolm McLaren, and Serena Rees, and spoke movingly about her late grandmother during a memorial service in 2023.
A model and activist who worked closely with her grandmother on a variety of projects, she will serve as director and Campaign and Projects manager at the Vivienne Foundation.
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The not-for-profit foundation partners with nongovernmental organizations on efforts to halt climate change, stop war, defend human rights and protest against capitalism. It also controls all of Westwood’s copyrights and intellectual property, including her pre-1993 designs.
In a post on Instagram, Corré said “there has been much confusion around my current role within the Vivienne Westwood company. Although the company bears my grandmother’s name, I do not feel at this time that it reflects her values.
“Vivienne taught me to always stand up for what is right, and I want to stay true to that. Due to a breakdown in relations between the Vivienne Westwood company and the Vivienne Foundation, my role within the company has become untenable.
“Moving forward, I will focus my energy on honoring my grandmother’s legacy through the Vivienne Foundation and continuing the work that was so important to her. I will be forever grateful to all the lovely people I got to know over the past few years, and to those that I’ve known far longer, sadly you can’t say I didn’t try. This is not the end but a moment to move on,” she wrote.
In an email to the Vivienne Westwood staff, Corré elaborated on her reasons for leaving, saying that despite the foundation’s best efforts “it has now been two years, and not a single conversation has been instigated by the VW Company with the foundation. This breakdown in communication has brought me so much sadness.”
A spokesperson for the Vivienne Westwood company could not be reached for comment at press time.
The company and the foundation also clashed over a recent collaboration with Palace.
Earlier this month, the Vivienne Foundation issued a statement saying that a recent collaboration between Vivienne Westwood and Palace had been done without consultation with the foundation.
The foundation said that Westwood’s company had based the Palace designs on her archival pieces, “showing a blatant disregard for Vivienne’s wishes,” her legacy and the foundation.
“We understand that Palace entered into the collaboration with VW company in good faith and they were not aware of this situation. However, it is very unfortunate that this has been allowed to happen, and we hope that under the circumstances the parties involved will do the right thing, and honor Vivienne’s wishes.
“The Vivienne Foundation was established by Vivienne herself to support the charities, organizations, and causes she was so passionate about. We hope that the parties involved will [align] with the foundation’s mission moving forward.”
The company did not comment on the foundation’s statement.
As reported, Westwood’s prints and personal wardrobe items raised a total of 754,488 pounds during live and online auctions at Christie’s London in late June.
The auction house said all the lots from “Vivienne Westwood: The Personal Collection” were sold, with the money going to charitable causes including the Vivienne Foundation, Amnesty International, Médecins Sans Frontières, and Greenpeace.
