Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist

Dame Vivienne Westwood runs her hands along the various pieces in her new collection. She’s clearly disgruntled—whose idea was that tiny collar? Surely not hers! At 77, she’s as flamboyant, brilliant and strong-willed as ever. And she’s one of the few top designers who still heads her own fashion house. With a sense of drama and understatement, she complains that it’s so dull to dredge up her past. And then, through her voice-over and an astonishing quantity of film footage, this documentary leads us through a life that has been spectacular in every respect.

She could already design shoes at five, and by 11 she was making her own clothes. Together with her ex-boyfriend Malcolm McLaren, she was an originator of British punk in the 1970s. McLaren brought the Sex Pistols together, and she dressed them. Although Westwood has become part of the establishment she once detested, as a climate activist she now fights for sustainability in the fashion industry.