London Fashion Week brings some of the biggest names in UK fashion to the runway and this year Vivienne Westwood made the catwalk into a platform to protest.
While many designers made fashion statements at London Fashion Week, Westwood chose to use her runway to protest with Rose McGowen. True to her eccentric style, the show featured some head-turning looks with a message to bring awareness to climate change.
Westwood wasn’t alone on bringing awareness to climate change during this fashion week, with many protesting outside the fashion shows since the fashion industry is the second most polluting industry, with the first being oil/fossil fuels. She also brought awareness to corporate greed in the fashion industry, featuring models stopping in the middle of the catwalk to denounce the problems of the world.
But it doesn’t stop there, the models also made speeches about artificial intelligence, robots, Brexit, and more. Some of the messages involve saving the Arctic from oil giant Shell and taxation on the poor to supplement tax-cuts for the rich.
Westwood bringing awareness to climate change can stem from working closely with environmental groups including Greenpeace. She partnered with Greenpeace in 2014 for the organization’s Save The Arctic campaign and starting her own anti-global warming website, Climate Revolution.
She also recently collaborated with Burberry to feature an over-sized T-shirt that promotes the Cool Earth charity, that works in combating global warming and ending deforestation.
“I am the angel of democracy, I talk for Vivienne,” says activist Rose McGowen as she walks the runway, “Democracy isn’t working, intellectuals unite. Intellectuals are heroes.” McGowen walked the runway with a yellow neon hat with ‘Angel’ printed across.
Westwood’s new collection featured a mix of androgyny, punk, traditional English tailoring, and bold slogans. Westwood herself closed the show with the final walk, singing a song and breaking fashion traditions.
One of the most memorable pieces of her collection was shirts and dresses that were made up to look like traditional sandwich-board protest signs. She also represented the punk asthetic with shocking style choices such as exposed nipples and shorter-than-short kilts worn without underwear.
Using fashion to make a political statement isn’t all new to Westwood and is a trademark to her designs. Last January he released a film to promote her unisex Autumn/Winter 2018 collection featuring a model waving EU and Union Jack flags.
Seeing as Vivienne Westwood is a big name of the fashion legacy of the UK, she definitely has the attention of fellow British fashion designers and the rest of the fashion industry. For more on her latest runway show, check out the video above.
