Since the inception of its couture service over 25 years ago, the British design house Vivienne Westwood has pioneered craftsmanship and quality in a trailblazing combination with avant-garde design. Despite changing fashion, Westwood and her long-time design partner and Creative Director, Andreas Kronthaler, have always designed clothes for those who strive to buy less, choose well and make it last.
This ethos is epitomised through the bespoke, bridal and made-to-order collections, found at Westwood’s 6 Davies Street boutique in Mayfair. For over 20 years, the boutique has served as the brand’s laboratory of couture creations and is home to the atelier’s bespoke and experimental designs. Recently the store underwent a renovation project and Westwood’s discerning clients can now visit the heart of the brand, and be cocooned in comfort, with a welcoming fireplace, art-lined walls, and intimate basement space available for private appointments with the atelier’s expert couturiers.
For the Westwood house, working towards a more sustainable way of producing fashion means looking forward to technological advancements and innovative ideas that can reduce the waste and harm caused by the fashion industry in its current form. Beyond that, it is also about looking back to a traditional, smaller scale means of garment manufacture, which has always had much less of a damaging impact than the hyper-globalised, mass production and consumption model of today. Vivienne has long championed craftsmanship and heritage, and ever since the house’s seminal collections in the 1980’s, the brand has been informed and influenced by traditional British textiles and time-honoured Savile Row tailoring. Nurturing truly bespoke craftmanship, Westwood aims to utilise more environmentally sustainable forms of production, while helping to support and sustain traditional skilled jobs and the communities around them.
The bespoke, made-to-order and bridal collections at Davies Street are designed, sampled and hand-crafted locally in England, using traditional tailoring techniques combined with historical and experimental pattern cutting. Informed by Vivienne’s unique style, each gown within the bespoke collections is handcrafted and designed in partnership with the client.
The Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood ready-to-wear collection, available at 6 Davies St and key Westwood flagship stores globally, is the design house’s unisex concept collection. The collection combines couture techniques with traditional British tailoring, but simultaneously challenges these to create a look that is quintessentially Vivienne Westwood. The collection works as a laboratory of design ideas, resulting in feminine, avant-garde and elegant silhouettes, often subverted and genderless. The line focuses on innovative designs and luxurious fabrics, with an emphasis on sustainability.
Vivienne Westwood is one of the last independent global fashion brands in the world. It strives to be more than just a producer of clothes and accessories. It uses its powerful and internationally respected brand voice to raise awareness of the environmental impact of overconsumption. While urging people to buy fewer clothes but of higher quality, Vivienne Westwood always succeeds in creating collections that meet the high standards demanded by the buy less, choose well, make it last mantra.
The brand’s aim is to make beautiful, quality products while respecting the people who make them and the planet we live on.
