Backstage pre-show at Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood, it was hissy fit o’clock: Please don’t treat photographers like that! “Shoe dramas,” explained Andreas Kronthaler, before turning to a group of models. “Do you recognize her?” he said. “Do you recognize this model?” Err, nope: The willowy 6-foot-something blonde with heavily punked pink eye makeup wearing a pagan crown of garbage and a fringed crop top did not ring any immediate bells. Ah—whoa! He meant the woman next to her in the full-shouldered striped jacket: none other than Vivienne Westwood herself!
So why the new career? “He asked me to,” said Westwood, “so I said yes immediately.”
Andreas added, “You know, she has been doing the campaigns for 12 years now.”
“That’s true,” agreed Westwood.
“And I remember at the beginning people thought it was crazy to have you photographed,” he continued.
“Did they?” interjected Westwood.
“Yes they did, Vivienne!” he replied. “Ten years ago it was different, but now it is more normal and great to celebrate age.” Westwood merely worked on her posture—the better to showcase the volume of her jacket.
To be honest, the whoops, whistles, and applause that nearly burst the ballroom of the InterContinental Paris Le Grand hotel when Westwood emerged for the first of her two looks were because of who she is, not how old she is. What better model for Westwood than Westwood?
Today’s show had an added twist thanks to Kronthaler’s incorporation of some his own source codes into the Westwood vernacular he is charged with progressing. “It’s an homage to my home country,” he said. “I got really involved with the Viennese Modernism of the 1920s and 1930s. I had almost forgotten about it, but it was a great time of exchange and ideas.” Thus, the paint-spattered asymmetric smock frocks and golden lamé edging on dresses that exhibited trademark Westwood, compelling disarray. The long-legged dirndl integrated into this collection—patterned in Alpine florals overlaid with a phallus—were among the looks inspired by two outfits from the Wiener Werkstätte community that first inspired Kronthaler to look to his Austrian roots. The hiking boots and quilted silk dressing-gown robes (one could imagine Freud reclining in his couch) also conformed to Austrian analysis. However, the arrival of Lemi, a dog, in the arms of his model owner, Harold Vnt, was a mere chance of casting. Westwood’s runway debut as a model displayed Kronthaler’s creative authorship. Rightly, they made the final walk hand-in-hand. This was a collection built together.
