Although this collection was photographed and ready to go, Vivienne Westwood waited until mid-morning on Tuesday, the day after the queen’s funeral, to release the images and market the collection.
In her liner notes, the queen of punk, who was given the honorary title of Dame in 2006 and who has always esteemed history and tradition, underlined her respect and admiration for the late monarch. In the wake of the queen’s death, she described the royal family as an institution and as “social cement. The Queen holds the country together. She’s a figurehead of international diplomacy,” Westwood said.
The collection itself was more in tune with King Charles III, and his environmental passions. Westwood called it “Born to Rewild” and she has been working with the organization Rewilding Britain on a series of projects and fundraising.
The collection itself, filled with tailoring, tartan and nods to 18th-century men’s and women’s fashion, was made from 90 percent lower-impact fabrics, including cotton and denim. There were also “no-waste” designs, such as a fluid dress made from two scarves that had been sewn together, with no leftover scraps.
Razor sharp tailoring underpinned the collection, from the flower patterned, neon tartan and pinstripe suits to the draped dresses with sweetheart necklines and the sculptural jackets with their lavish collars and scrambled buttons down the front.
Westwood also drew on British military history for a sharp double-breasted jacket that could fold and button multiple ways and revived her archival Born in England slogan for T-shirts, in a nod to queen and country.
