Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist

About the movie

A profile of Vivienne Westwood is presented using a combination of archive footage, new behind the scenes footage, and interviews with key players including with the subject herself. The profile is shaped partly by Westwood's reluctance to talk about certain aspects of her life, most noticeably her connection to her one-time personal and professional partner Malcolm McLaren and their combined connection to the Sex Pistols, who McLaren formed and managed. Much of the profile is centered on how her three primary personal relationships affected what would be for what she would be most renowned, a fashion designer. Seen as an outsider to the mainstream fashion industry, especially in being the unofficial creator along with McLaren of the look of punk rock, Westwood decided at least to join the mainstream in starting her fashion business and ultimate empire, despite the obstacle of McLaren, so as to have her name officially attached to her creations, which is at the hub of her business philosophy. Most of the profile concerns her partnership, both professional and personal, with her second/current husband, Andreas Kronthaler, who many believed to be a pure opportunist, but that relationship which has ended up being a true collaboration despite it being Westwood's name and fashion empire front and center. The profile also only touches briefly on her staunch environmental activism.—Huggo