Jacket
Jacket
c. 1995-1996 (made)
c. 1995-1996 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Vivienne Westwood (1941-2022) was an influential 20th- and 21st-century English fashion designer. She is best known for her role in the punk movement that emerged in the late 1960s. With Malcolm McLaren (1946-2010), Westwood sold edgy clothes from a shop on King’s Road in London, England that opened in 1971. Initially called Let it Rock, the shop was renamed on various occasions. Features of Westwood and McLaren fashion from the punk era include safety pins, spikes, holes and provocative graphics. When punk became more mainstream in 1980s Britain, Westwood and McLaren went in a different direction, drawing inspiration from a range of places and periods.
By the mid-1980s Westwood was no longer working with McLaren, growing as an independent designer instead. She developed a successful international fashion brand which has released various lines, including the more affordable ready-to-wear Red Label range, established in 1993. Westwood’s designs from around this time demonstrate a fascination with close-fitting garments and historical European patterns and fashions.
This cotton jacket, which is from the Red Label range, highlights Westwood’s passion for both tailoring and European history. The fabric design is a direct reference to a late 18th-century printed cotton from Germany, a piece of which is in the V&A collection (V&A-1654-1899). The textile’s location history indicates that it was on public display in a study frame between 1991 and 2004. Westwood or one of her collaborators likely viewed this fabric at the V&A in the mid-1990s before featuring a very similar pattern in the mainline autumn/winter 1995-1996 collection Vive la Cocotte, inspired by the 17th-century French author, courtesan and patron of the arts, Ninon de l’Enclos. This jacket was probably released around the same time, although Westwood often repeated elements from past collections.
Similar connections exist between other pieces from Vive la Cocotte and museum items. For example, there is a Vive la Cocotte jacked which can be directly linked to a waistcoat design held at the V&A produced by the English textile designer Anna Maria Garthwaite in 1747 (V&A 5985:13).
The last Red Label range was spring/summer 2017.
By the mid-1980s Westwood was no longer working with McLaren, growing as an independent designer instead. She developed a successful international fashion brand which has released various lines, including the more affordable ready-to-wear Red Label range, established in 1993. Westwood’s designs from around this time demonstrate a fascination with close-fitting garments and historical European patterns and fashions.
This cotton jacket, which is from the Red Label range, highlights Westwood’s passion for both tailoring and European history. The fabric design is a direct reference to a late 18th-century printed cotton from Germany, a piece of which is in the V&A collection (V&A-1654-1899). The textile’s location history indicates that it was on public display in a study frame between 1991 and 2004. Westwood or one of her collaborators likely viewed this fabric at the V&A in the mid-1990s before featuring a very similar pattern in the mainline autumn/winter 1995-1996 collection Vive la Cocotte, inspired by the 17th-century French author, courtesan and patron of the arts, Ninon de l’Enclos. This jacket was probably released around the same time, although Westwood often repeated elements from past collections.
Similar connections exist between other pieces from Vive la Cocotte and museum items. For example, there is a Vive la Cocotte jacked which can be directly linked to a waistcoat design held at the V&A produced by the English textile designer Anna Maria Garthwaite in 1747 (V&A 5985:13).
The last Red Label range was spring/summer 2017.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Jacket (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Cotton, plastic |
| Brief description | Jacket, cotton, plastic buttons, Vivienne Westwood Red Label, Italy, around 1995-1996 |
| Physical description | A short cotton jacket with long sleeves and plastic buttons. The fabric design is a direct reference to a late 18th-century printed cotton from Germany, a piece of which is in the V&A collection (V&A 1654-1899). Both the 18th-century textile and the jacket feature floral trails with lace-like motifs in red set against a ground of cream and green stripes. The jacked has a collar, lapels and pockets. Its plastic buttons are orange tone and feature the Vivienne Westwood orb logo. Size 44 or 12. |
| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Object history | The design of the fabric used for the jacket is a direct reference to a late 18th-century printed cotton from Germany, a piece of which is in the V&A collection (V&A 1654-1899). |
| Summary | Vivienne Westwood (1941-2022) was an influential 20th- and 21st-century English fashion designer. She is best known for her role in the punk movement that emerged in the late 1960s. With Malcolm McLaren (1946-2010), Westwood sold edgy clothes from a shop on King’s Road in London, England that opened in 1971. Initially called Let it Rock, the shop was renamed on various occasions. Features of Westwood and McLaren fashion from the punk era include safety pins, spikes, holes and provocative graphics. When punk became more mainstream in 1980s Britain, Westwood and McLaren went in a different direction, drawing inspiration from a range of places and periods. By the mid-1980s Westwood was no longer working with McLaren, growing as an independent designer instead. She developed a successful international fashion brand which has released various lines, including the more affordable ready-to-wear Red Label range, established in 1993. Westwood’s designs from around this time demonstrate a fascination with close-fitting garments and historical European patterns and fashions. This cotton jacket, which is from the Red Label range, highlights Westwood’s passion for both tailoring and European history. The fabric design is a direct reference to a late 18th-century printed cotton from Germany, a piece of which is in the V&A collection (V&A-1654-1899). The textile’s location history indicates that it was on public display in a study frame between 1991 and 2004. Westwood or one of her collaborators likely viewed this fabric at the V&A in the mid-1990s before featuring a very similar pattern in the mainline autumn/winter 1995-1996 collection Vive la Cocotte, inspired by the 17th-century French author, courtesan and patron of the arts, Ninon de l’Enclos. This jacket was probably released around the same time, although Westwood often repeated elements from past collections. Similar connections exist between other pieces from Vive la Cocotte and museum items. For example, there is a Vive la Cocotte jacked which can be directly linked to a waistcoat design held at the V&A produced by the English textile designer Anna Maria Garthwaite in 1747 (V&A 5985:13). The last Red Label range was spring/summer 2017. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.1-2021 |
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| Record created | August 9, 2019 |
| Record URL |
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