Vivienne Westwood

Dame Vivienne Westwood (born Vivienne Swire, 1941 to 2022) was an English fashion designer and businesswoman who did much to bring punk and new wave fashion into the mainstream. She came to public notice making clothes for the boutique on the King's Road in London that she ran with Malcolm McLaren, known as Sex, where pairing clothing with music helped shape the 1970s British punk scene. She went on to open four shops in London and expanded across Britain and the world, selling a varied range of merchandise, some of which promoted political causes such as nuclear disarmament, climate action and civil rights groups. In 2022 Sky Arts ranked her fourth among the most influential British artists of the previous fifty years.