Coat thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Coat

Artist/Maker
Place of origin

For well over three decades Vivienne Westwood, along with her one-time partner Malcolm McLaren, has been at the centre of British fashion and one of its most inventive and influential designers. Westwood’s career in fashion was galvanised by McLaren and together they launched memorable fashion moments, including Punk in the early 1970s and later their Pirates collection. McLaren and Westwood conducted a design relationship between 1971 and 1983. In 1990 and again in 1991 Vivienne Westwood was named British Designer of the Year; she has also received an OBE.

Westwood’s unique mix of practicality and inventiveness, her preoccupation with silhouette and the manner in which she manipulates fabrics result in dynamic fashion. Westwood herself once said, 'You have a much better life if you wear impressive clothes.’

This ensemble is from Westwood and McLaren’s ‘Buffalo’ collection (also called ‘Nostalgia of Mud’). The garments in the collection, including this jacket and waistcoat, featured asymmetrical cuts and rough materials such as sheepskin and horn details.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Coat
  • Waistcoat
Brief description
Ensemble, f, brown sheepskin coat and lavender and brown silk waistcoat, Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, Britain, 1981-1982.
Physical description
Ensemble of brown sheepskin coat with toggle closures and large cuffs and lapels and lavender and brown striped silk waistcoat.
Credit line
Purchased with Art Fund support and assistance from the Friends of the V&A, the Elsbeth Evans Trust, and the Dorothy Hughes Bequest
Summary
For well over three decades Vivienne Westwood, along with her one-time partner Malcolm McLaren, has been at the centre of British fashion and one of its most inventive and influential designers. Westwood’s career in fashion was galvanised by McLaren and together they launched memorable fashion moments, including Punk in the early 1970s and later their Pirates collection. McLaren and Westwood conducted a design relationship between 1971 and 1983. In 1990 and again in 1991 Vivienne Westwood was named British Designer of the Year; she has also received an OBE.

Westwood’s unique mix of practicality and inventiveness, her preoccupation with silhouette and the manner in which she manipulates fabrics result in dynamic fashion. Westwood herself once said, 'You have a much better life if you wear impressive clothes.’

This ensemble is from Westwood and McLaren’s ‘Buffalo’ collection (also called ‘Nostalgia of Mud’). The garments in the collection, including this jacket and waistcoat, featured asymmetrical cuts and rough materials such as sheepskin and horn details.
Collection
Accession number
T.144:1, 2-2002

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Record createdOctober 30, 2002
Record URL
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