It was in 1971, as punks and new wave music flooded London, that Dame Vivienne Westwood made her big debut at Let it Rock, the legendary gritty shop on 430 King's Road. Owned and operated by her then beau (and manager of the Sex Pistols) Malcolm McLaren, this particular boutique offered Westwood's leather and zippered creations and catered to the neighborhood punks. Westwood is noted as bringing this edgy, British anti-conformist scene to a mass market. The designer established her eponymous line in 1981, followed by a Red Label collection catering to a younger audience, and later the launch of Anglomania. Westwood's runways have shown collections inspired by pirates, Victorian dramas, bondage, and an abundance of tartan with outlandish styles that continue to inspire others designers, including John Galliano and Karl Lagerfeld, and led to her own retrospective in 2004 at the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 1992, she was awarded the OBE from Queen Elizabeth II, later advancing to DBE in 2006.

shop the collection Vivienne Westwood