Life Lessons from Vivienne Westwood

Welcome to Life Lessons. This week, in celebration of Women’s History Month, we’re revisiting Vivienne Westwood’s 2012 Interview feature. In it, the punk icon talks to Tim Blanks, the former Editor-at-Large of the now-defunct iconic fashion hub Style.com (and current Editor-at-Large of Business of Fashion). In their conversation, the then 71-year-old Dame of the British Empire gets candid with Blanks about her punk roots, her ever-evolving style, and aging with style. So sit back, grab a pen—you just might learn a thing or two.

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“I always design for a parallel universe; a world that doesn’t exist. You know, one that’s like this but better.”

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“To me, a hero is somebody who’s prepared to stick their neck out, to step out and walk tall, and to live life. That’s how I see a hero.”

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“It looks silly on a woman of my age to have long hair. Though it’s dyed red. If it was white, then I’d look like a witch.”

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“You know, a nude is never naked. You’ve always got a beautiful hairstyle, a beauty mark, a ring, or whatever it is. You’ve always got to be “dressed” in some way.”

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“I’m not competitive with other women at all. Maybe you are when you’re younger, but if I go into a room and see Pamela Anderson looking incredible, I’m going to be delighted, and I don’t have to be the center of attraction.”

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“That’s who I am. Cogito ergo sum—I think, therefore I am. My continuity through all the different lives I’ve led—because everybody does change, your outlook is so different all the time. I mean, who would have thought about climate change in the ’50s?”

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“You can change your mind quite radically, of course but I expect the older you get, the less you change your mind, because your way of seeing things is more solid.”

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“People talk about having mid-life crises. Mine was at the age of 30. After that, I didn’t care that I was no longer this nubile sex-object person . . .”

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“I do think that my fashion is qualified by the age in which I live. It’s all very eclectic, and I can tell you how it got to be that way.”

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“I think I’ve had an incredible influence, for the worst, a lot of the time, because people think they don’t have to put hems on anything. Which they don’t necessarily. But on the wrong fabric, a bit of torn hem looks horrible.”

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 “I do believe in the Gaia principle, that the Earth combines with its biosphere, with its life forces, to return it to health. I think we’ve still got such potential to make the world amazing.”

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“I would like to be the last person on Earth. I’d like to know how it works out.”

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“I think clothes kind of enhance your experience of life.”

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“I do realize that if I’d just stayed up in the north of England, if my parents hadn’t moved to the south of England, I could have been a schoolteacher.”

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“I do sometimes think it’d be really nice to live an ordinary life, to read books and see friends, because I don’t have much time for that. I also realize how easy it would have been not to lead this life. But I’ve always gravitated to situations where I’m going to learn.”