Vivienne Westwood isn't about to relinquish her role as English fashion's resident provocateur. If today's graffiti print combining "Free Leonard Peltier" and "I am expensiv" (sic) scribbles raises a few eyebrows, so be it. (Ditto for the doodles of the male anatomy that she used for a cape and a sheath.) And if the collection—which ranged from a black skirt suit, draped and tucked at oddly graceful angles, to a remarkably simple, subtly bejeweled blue-velvet bustier dress—wasn't a huge step forward, well, that's not really why people keep coming back.
It's the sheer audacity of the spectacle that intrigues. Snow White stomped down the runway in a purple-and-blue bustier top and yellow ball skirt straight out of the Disney book, but for a few extra inches of cleavage. One of Westwood's favorite models from back in the day, Sara Stockbridge, also made a memorable appearance. If she wasn't smoking a cigarette, she was vamping for photographers, who haven't seen such antics in ages. What of the clothes? Piece by piece, there were some beauties, like a loden green nipped-waist jacket or a deep purple strapless taffeta ball gown with striped lining. But, for all their intricacies, they almost came off as afterthoughts.
