Vivienne Westwood Accessories Brand Guide | Aphrodite Menswear Blog

Vivienne Westwood Accessories Brand Guide

Vivienne Westwood accessories  from the Queen of British fashion Self-taught,  fluently talented  and true to her self. 

History of  Vivienne Westwood Accessories

Self-styled Mother of Punk, Dame Vivienne Westwood, plummeted into the industry of fashion with her iconic style in the late seventies and has since continued to rise with her modern touch. The British designer, born and bred in the small market town of Derbyshire, Glossop, formally started out her career attending the Harrow School of Art at Westminster University, where she studied fashion and silversmithing for a short while – dropping her education a month later. The designer worked around factory hours, to working as a Primary School teacher, whilst she tackled design work in her spare time – oblivious to the fact that she was in the making of building her soon to be Fashion Empire. In the meantime, the fashionista fired the launch of her 1950’s vintage clothing store, ‘Let it Rock’ – later named ‘Sex’. Little did she know that this was her first big step to fame. Westwood’s provocative work caught the eye of many with her personalised ripped and raunchy accessory designs, also introducing to us with what is now known as the signature Westwood tartan, incorporated in the vast majority of her collections – found in accessories in particularly.

Vivienne Westwood Wallets, Belts

 

By the time the early ’80s rolled around, it became official. The inspiring designer made the decision to establish herself as independent after parting ways with husband Malcolm McLaren – the man who supported her road to success, and by this point, Westwood’s reputation was soon taken to new heights after being given the opportunity to showcase her designs for the first time on the runway. When the year of 1990 had struck, Vivienne introduced her first exclusive line of menswear clothing – bringing Aphrodite the smart and quirky designs that we have to offer by the Queen of the industry herself today.  Continuing with her growth, the dreams of every aspiring fashion designer came true for Vivienne herself. The designer built her own mini fashion empire, naming it ‘The Vivienne Westwood Shop’– opening a wide selection of boutiques across the United Kingdom that sold collections suited to both men and women.  Clothing, shoes, hosiery, eyewear, scarves, ties, knitwear, cosmetics, and perfumes – you name it! It was all up for grabs.

Collaboration requests were flying in from all directions to work with the woman who made it clear that she knew her stuff and whose designs demonstrated that originality came naturally to her. Westwood’s open approach to collaborating with other names lead to her expansion to other cities, New York being one of them, where she opened a store that offered her first official line of eyewear. The release of Westwood’s 1993-4 collection was a time where she was really given the chance to show off her accessory line at Paris Fashion Week. The designer exhibited her designs on supermodels Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell, draping layers of jewelry over them to fit the “all things 90’s” theme of the show – taking inspiration from her previous Pirate Collection. Hong Kong was the designer’s next planned destination to open up a  Vivienne Westwood accessories store by 2003, later followed by Milan and Liverpool. Bodily decoration by Westwood became remarkably popular, as demonstrated by the success and popularity of the accessory stores that she had planted globally. Common style details consisted of mental studs, spikes, and bicycle chains. Skintight leather biker gloves embellished with spiked decoration and studs and spiked choker dog collars were what it was all about.

Vivienne Westwood Accessories

Nowadays, the creator looks at producing the most up-to-date and sophisticated Vivienne Westwood accessories that maintain her strong taste in punk fashion, incorporating a slight touch in one way or another. Westwood has provided us with the most tasteful and voguish statement pieces that give outfits a smooth finish, from artistic neck candy (including ties and scarves), to watches, hats, belts, wallets, and underwear. Westwood now thinks outside the box and produces the likes of key chains which often consist of her enlarged orb logo – an iconic symbol which now represents her mark in the industry ever since her independence allured back in the early ’80s.

History of the Vivienne Westwood Accessory Logo

The logo is found attached to the majority of her designs to add extra exclusivity with the addition of her personalised signature finish – whether it’s an embroidered logo, a 3D metal orb stud (often found attached to ties and wallets), or a continuous printed pattern.  Designer Stockists, such as us here at Aphrodite, offer the latest Vivienne Westwood accessories released that we are confident can be paired up with your newest suit, or casual outfit. To this day, Vivienne Westwood solidly remains as one of the most individualistic designers who brought back the punk movement into mainstream fashion. As the years have passed, the designer has continued to use the benefit of her magic to keep up with the modern flow of trends; where she never fails to impress her followers with her fresh and off-the-wall seasonal accessory lines, which often fit with her clothing collections.

Watch the video below to see a range of the Vivienne Westwood accessories that are turning heads in the fashion world 

Shop our full collection of Vivienne Westwood

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