Jess Cartner-Morley recalls meeting the anti-establishment fashion designer and political activist who shaped punk culture and street style
, a couple of years ago, she wore a chic silk scarf at her throat, which she fastened with an Extinction Rebellion badge. She was immaculately made up, and ate pizza with a knife and fork, popping the daintiest pieces into her mouth so as not to smudge her bright coral lipstick.
As one of the chief architects of punk, she was the fairy godmother of how every subculture since has used clothes to define its tribe.
There was not a dull moment in Westwood’s five-decade career. She was invited to Buckingham Palace to be awarded royal honours twice – in 1992, when she was given an OBE, and in 2006 when she was made a dame – and went knickerless both times. She told reporters that she simply preferred not to wear underwear when wearing a dress. But the anti-establishment spirit of her decision to go commando seemed simply too perfect a vignette of clothes-as-theatre to have been a mere accident.
Three months ago, Westwood was noticeably absent from her Paris fashion week show. The collection has for some years been designed by Kronthaler, but she remained figurehead and muse, and each show would end with her husband presenting Westwood with a bouquet and taking her hand for a joint bow.
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