Justice for Gaia - Vivienne Westwood's Red Label Show at London Fashion Week

This year’s Vivienne Westwood Red Label Autumn/Winter 2010-11 ready to wear show was presented at London’s Royal Courts of Justice. It was the only show to be held at the historic venue during London Fashion Week and reflected Vivienne Westwood’s repeated pledge to use her fashion powers to draw attention to political issues.

Besides placing a Westwood ‘stop climate change’ flask on each seat for guests to take home and reduce their use of plastic water bottles, t-shirts emblazoned with the infamous Westwood ‘tits’ logo, first donned by the Sex Pistols in ’76 were also scrawled with ‘vital statistics’ such as James Lovelock’s GAIA science theory that only 1,000,000,000 people will be left alive in 2,100 A.D. and 240,000 pregnant women and mothers of newborn babies are provided with zero support in Haiti. The t-shirts, which were also included in the show, could be purchased on the night and are still available to order online. The £40 price tag will be entirely donated to the White Ribbon Alliance and Naomi Campbell’s Fashion for Relief charity.

Celebrities including Ms Campbell herself, Kate Moss, Young British Artist Tracey Emin and Janet Jackson all turned out to see the atmospheric show in the Victorian building. The ready to wear collection embodied Westwood’s signature style of tweed and wool fitted outwear with cinched in waists and exaggerated collars. There was also an array of the draped looks we love Westwood for, tartan patterns in colour pops and the mischievous elfin pirate look often associated with her collections was also present, with updated versions of her classic swashbuckling boots and bunched up towering leather heels, as well as a bit of rainbow holographic shimmer to brighten up grey winter days. The backcombed fairytale/slightly dishevelled Marie Antoinette (at the end of her days) inspired hair wonderfully accentuated the playfulness of the collection.

Westwood chose to write a story of the woman she had in mind when designing the collection. She is an art lover, who makes regular visits to London’s free entry museums and galleries, listens to ‘The History of the World in 100 Objects’ series with the British Museum on BBC Radio 4, she also knows the names of the trees as she grew up in the country and likes to spot these in the city’s parks and gardens. She is worried about the future of the human race and mankind’s destructive nature, to soothe her panic she immerses herself in art and pledges her loyalty to it, this enables her to lead a ‘charmed life’.

Vivienne Westwood will soon begin work on her own TV chat show, called ‘Get a Life’, which is an extension of this story, dealing with the themes of art and politics. In the meantime, the grand dame of eccentric British fashion has called on us once again to switch off trashy TV and pick up a book, go to a gallery, educate ourselves and enjoy the cultural wealth we have been blessed with. Long live the queen!