All language subtitles for Westwood Punk Icon Activist.2018.[eng](1)

I think what you'll have to
let me do is not ask me,

"Is that the first time
you went to America?"
or anything like that.

I think you just
let me just talk
and just get it over with.

I think that's it.

And, um, 'cause, you know,
if you stop and I think,
"Oh, I've got to think

"about that part of it now,
have I? Can't I just...

"Do we have to cover
every bit of it?" You know?

[SIGHS] Anyway, you know,
I will get into it,

but it's so boring
to say all the...

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD:
I've got spatial intelligence.

As a child of five,
I could have made
a pair of shoes.

It's for a pocket,
that's why I drew me
hand on it first.

Sometimes a question
is put to me,
"Will you ever retire?"

What I say is
if people retire,

they do what they like

and I'm doing what I want
in the sense that I feel
I ought to do it,

but if I really could do
what I want,

what I would do
is I would learn Chinese.

[INDISTINCT CHATTERING]

WESTWOOD: I mean, I think
that that blue one there
is quite good actually.

I think, just for a change.
I think it's fine,

but the multi colour,
no, not so good, is it? Okay.

-And the hair, Vivienne?
-Sorry?

The hair? The black girl?

No, the hair looks lovely.
I like the hair.

And, um, let's just try
how with her hair taken back,

just to see
if I like that better?

I think she looks
better, yeah.

-Pushed back
a little bit further?
-Yeah.

No, I don't like that at all.

No, take it off.

I don't remember doing this.

Fuck them,
they're just disgusting.

We did such a nice thing.

What's with this tiny hem?

-How did that happen?
-ASSISTANT 1: You said that.

-We decided we wanted
a small hem?
-Yes.

-Are you sure?
-Yes.

Why did I want a small hem?

ASSISTANT 2: That's what
I had taken in my notes,
saying here...

WESTWOOD: I actually told you,
"Put a small hem there?"

I would never have said that.

Uh, just in the drawing
it was, so I just judged...

Well, next time
you make a judgement,
don't make a judgement.

Just get it
into your head,
I like a big rib.

I don't like this tiny rib.

It's crap!
I really don't like it!

Anyway, so I don't know
if I want to show
any of this shit,

and I don't know
what the fuck this is!

I don't know
what I'm doing.
It's a mess.

It's my fault,
it's just not good.

MAN: I think you should
not do this thing.

WESTWOOD: I don't want
to do it any more.
What do we do?

What do we do about it?
Who does do it?

Let's just close the company.

I was quite interested
at doing it next season,

but when I look at that,

I don't know why
it turned out not good.

I like the Princess coats.

WESTWOOD: Anyway,
I'm just totally bored
talking about this,

but you need it,
so I'll tell you.

From the age of 11-12
I made my own clothes.

When I was little,
I saw a picture
of the Crucifixion

and it really did
change my life.

And I thought to myself,

"My parents,
they've been deceiving me.

"They've told me
all about baby Jesus,

"but they never told me
what happened to him."

And I just thought,
"I can't trust the people
in this world.

"I've got to
find out for myself.

"This kind of thing
can't happen."

[ALARM BLARING]

I did feel that
I had to be like a knight

to stop people doing
terrible things to each other.

And I think that's had
something to do with my
fashion clothes as well.

It's always got to be that.

You know,
you've got to cut a figure

and be prepared for action,

and engagement with things.

[AUDIENCE APPLAUDS]

Just before I was 17,

my art teacher, Mr Bell,

he had the idea that
I should go to art school.

I stayed at art school
for a term only.

Because we were
so working class,

it was like,
"How am I going to
earn my living?"

And so then
I thought, "I know.

"I will go to teacher
training college

"and take art
as my main subject

"and I'll try to be an artist.

"And then if I can't
be an artist,

"I can be a school teacher."

And that's what
I decided to do.

We had beehives then,
'60s was coming.

White shoes.
Oh, God, I loved them!

With little lace-ups
like a nurse. Oh, they were...

They were fantastic.

Rock-and-roll
was just starting

and as a teenager,

I wanted to do
what all the other
teenagers were doing.

That's where I met
Derek Westwood
in the end, yeah.

He was a great dancer,
that Derek, very good dancer.

REPORTER: [ON RADIO]
Back from their honeymoon,

she and Tim are headed
for a life of wedded bliss.

They think.

WESTWOOD:
I grew up with the idea

that you're supposed to
stay with one man.

You're supposed to
find the "one" man.

What we were actually living
was the American Dream.

The housewife, all smiling,
all lovely little hairstyle,

and crisp with an apron on
and everything,

and hubby comes home,

and he's got ideal family

and somehow that's it,
that's all you see.

But the American Dream
stops there.

I just realize,
"No, no, it's all
a load of old rubbish.

"What a lot of
old bollocks that is."

Somehow I had to explore.
I had to get out.

I got married when I was 21
and had Ben at 22.

And Derek and I split up

and mostly because
I was not fulfilling
my potential

to understand something
about the world.

BEN WESTWOOD: I remember
Malcolm turning up.

I sort of remember
my mother and Malcolm
from when I was about five.

I remember...

We used to live in a flat
in the Oval

near the cricket ground.

And Malcolm was
very hot-headed
and quite young.

And he didn't want
children around him,

he didn't have
much patience for us.

WESTWOOD: I stopped teaching.

I had two children,
Joe and Ben.

Anyway, Joe was Malcolm's son
and he was born...

Malcolm was ill,

and I looked after him
and that's how it all began.

I didn't want him at all

but I felt that I'd misled him
by being too kind to him.

When I had Joe,
I wanted to have an abortion

and I really
wasn't happy at all,

and one day,
I suddenly realised,
"This man is gold.

"What am I doing?"

We went to
Compendium bookshop.

We went to the Marxist shop
in Chinatown.

He came from a Jewish family.

They knew the world.

I was really
a woman on a mission.

'Cause I knew I was stupid

and I had to discover
what was going on
in the world.

PHOTOGRAPHER:
Vivienne, thanks so much.

Malcolm had the idea of
buying up these old rock
and roll records,

and he thought that
he could sell them
to trendy people.

My favourite shop,
Mr. Freedom, was
at 430 King's Road,

that's still my shop.

That shop has got
really a lot of history.

It was the first this,
the first that.

Anyway, it wasn't
doing very well,

so the shop manager invited us

to have the back half
of the shop,

to sell our records in.

I borrowed some money off
my mother, a hundred pound.

And, erm, that's when
I started also making clothes.

We called it Let It Rock.

Every time we changed
the name of the shop,

we changed the clothes,
you know.

It's like doing
a new collection each time.

Malcolm had the idea

that we were going to confront
the establishment through sex.

Because he said,
"England is the home
of the flasher."

His slogan was,
"Rubber wear for the office."

He was very clever, Malcolm,

literarily and everything,
except he never read anything.

Why the hell
does anybody need this?

Can't you get a bit of
old footage or something?

No, you can't.
No, you can't,
I know that.

[SIGHS]

Anyway, um...

He was interested
in those '50s pin-ups

where you've got girls
who are just there.

They've just been washed up
by a ship wreck on the beach.

And they're all torn,
you know?

I'm wearing something torn
right now.

It's really great, this.

I'll get up later on.
It's all got this torn edge.
Love it!

INTERVIEWER: Shall we
jump to the Sex Pistols
and how they came about?

No, I can't be
bothered with them either.

I don't know
what we're going to do.

Really, if I've got to talk
about the Sex Pistols...

Have you finished?

CURATOR: This is
the "Destroy" muslin t-shirt.

It's one of the most
important pieces that
Westwood and McLaren created.

The garment is
made from muslin.

The sleeves

are very long
and they fold back

and then this would
clip on to here,

so making it

more wearable,

but the notion
of distortion of the sleeves,

it reminds one a little
bit of a straitjacket.

But it's really
all about the imagery.

So here you've got a swastika,

an inverted crucifix,

the word "Destroy" and then
lyrics from Sex Pistols,

"I am an Antichrist."

And what Westwood and McLaren
were doing with these
punk garments

was confronting society.

WESTWOOD: We invented punk.

Malcolm had just
come back from America.

He'd been managing
The New York Dolls,

and he put together a group,
a pop group,

from our Saturday boy Glen

and a couple of our costumers,

and Johnny Rotten
was quite a phenomenon.

And he hasn't changed
from being that
phenomenon, unfortunately.

He should have changed
to something else by now.

Now then...

My favourite shop
is the Worlds End Shop.

And we still sell stuff
we designed at
the time of punk.

Actually, they look
good on you.

They do look good on you.

And every time
I design something,

it has to have a story.
It's got a character.

I think that that story is
part of a kind of a nostalgia

that people can tap into.

I mean things like this
are reminiscent

of Greek peasant costumes,

this little kilt and like
the tartan for this jacket
and everything.

It's got...

I don't know, it's got
an old sort of feeling to it.

A little bit to do with

rather sort of bandits
in the countryside,

that kind of thing.
Something that
you might have seen

at the Battle of Culloden,
something like that.

And I just think that

'cause it's got
such content in there

and such a way to connect
with the human expression.

You know, how you walk,
how you talk,

you know,
how you attract people.

And I just think that
that's why my clothes
are timeless.

REPORTER:
Dame Vivienne Westwood.

This is a lady whose
global popularity
knows no bounds.

A Dame who personifies
the powerful

and subversive originality
of British fashion.

Ladies and gentlemen,
may we present
Dame Vivienne Westwood.

ANDREAS KRONTHALER:
There's Vivienne, you know,
the fashion designer.

There is Vivienne,
the campaigner.

And then there is Vivienne,

the person, you know?

[CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY]

I like them all
ever such a lot.

But I really like
Vivienne, the person.

I don't know why.

I'm so...

[SIGHS]

There is this word "love,"
you know?

In love with her.
I really don't know.

I really don't know.

I just...

I don't know if this is...

You know, they speak
about the love
of your life and...

I don't know, is it...

Was it lucky?
Was it not lucky?
I don't know.

Nice. Yes!

It has never changed.

If anything, it became
stronger and stronger,

the bond.

I like everything about her.

PHOTOGRAPHER: That's great,
that's great. Yes.

KRONTHALER: The smell,
the way the hair falls

to every millimetre
of her little body.

Everything.

[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING]

PHOTOGRAPHER: And now, just...
Yeah, fantastic.

WESTWOOD: The best compliment
I can pay Andreas

is that I actually like
living with him as much
as being on my own.

-A hat. I really
look ridiculous.
-[CHUCKLES]

I accepted a teaching job,

first in Austria,

because I did need the money.

The line is under the bust

and then it's coming up here
in between.

And it's where I met Andreas.

And then Andreas came
with a group of students
from Vienna to England

at the time when
I was doing a fashion show.

Of course, I gave them seats
to watch this fashion show,

they were my students.

And at the end of it,
Andreas, I thought
he was really cheeky,

he didn't say it was great,
he gave me the idea

that there was a lot
of room for improvement.

He stayed and he worked
on the next collection.

KRONTHALER:
It was the old studio and
she just let me live there.

Dirty old place.

Every night when
once they left,
I would, you know,

get out this piece
of leopard fur

under a table and sleep
on it on the floor.

You know, in all this mess.

I even had fleas at one point.

But it was very romantic

and this place
was full of cardboard boxes

and in these cardboard boxes
was all the archive
and clothes,

and I would study them,
you know.

Soon as everybody was gone
I would open them up

and look at these things

and, you know, sometimes
would actually wear them

and go out in them.

It was fantastic.

Yeah. It was heaven.

It was the real thing.

It was the thing
I always wanted.

I just felt so happy.

I never went back.

What is it?
It's changing before
me eyes anyway.

-I don't know
what's this either.
-It's a square.

The back...
The front is a simple square,

which is just draped
a little bit.

On the front,
just a bit of a nothing.

It's just thrown on you,
a bit of cloth.

WESTWOOD:
He straight away started
telling us what to do.

Here, or it can be
just to here.
It's just a little square...

-An apron or a dress?
-It's an apron.

But if I pin in the back...

WESTWOOD: He's so
passionate about things

that you just have to do
what he says.

People who'd worked with me
for quite a bit were
very suspicious of him

and he had to be careful
and they're just thinking,

"Who does he think he is?"
You know,

"Telling us to do this,
that and the other."

Have you got a picture
of that anywhere?

WESTWOOD: But they soon began
to realise how talented he was

and so we all
went along with it.

CORRE: I suppose I have
to be honest and say

I think in the beginning,
I was quite suspicious
of Andreas

because, "Who's this
fucking guy?

I mean, he looks
a bit kind of gay.

I don't know,
he's kind of wants
to marry my mum

and he's half her age

and, you know,
"What's all this about?"

REPORTERS: Vivienne!

CORRE: But all I can
say is that

over the years that
they've been married,
it's been a huge relief to me

that's allowed me
not to have to worry
about my mum at all,

because I know that

he's absolutely
besotted by her,

and you know, thinks of her
and her well-being

and looks after her
in many ways.

And that was a really
nice relief, actually.

[CHEERING]

WESTWOOD: People didn't
like you for being a punk.

We wanted to undermine
the establishment.

The swastika,
all these things meant

we don't accept the values
of this older generation.

We hate it,
we want to destroy it.

We don't want it.

We were youth against age,
that's what it was.

But it had affected
fashion such a lot.

The hair styles even.

My spiky hair was in Vogue
one month later.

And I realised that

we weren't really attacking

the system at all.

It was being marketed
all the time.

I just realised that
the real marketing opportunity

was that the English
society could claim

how democratic
and how free they were

that somehow kids
could revolt as much as that.

In fact, we weren't
attacking the establishment.

We were just part
of the distraction.

So this fantastic ensemble
is from the Pirate collection

and it's one of
the first pieces
that the V&A acquired

from Vivienne Westwood.

It was from a time
when the shop had become
known as Worlds End,

and Vivienne was experimenting
with historical dress.

Like the snake print tunic

or the square toed shoes.

She'll take an idea
and then chew it over

and shake it and shake it

and come up with the most
extraordinary result.

The whole collection
was absolutely joyful.

It was a kind of riposte
to the darkness of Punk.

She was introducing
colour and pattern,

huge voluminous shirts,

clothing that was worn
by both men and women.

Clothing that was
not about sexual identity,

but was simply
about enjoyment of life.

WESTWOOD:
I didn't consider myself
a fashion designer at all,

but I realised
that I was very talented

and I felt that
I wanted people to know

that the stuff that was
on the Paris catwalk
had come from me.

And I just thought, "I must
get the benefit of this.

"I must enter
this business world

"and start to really sell
the clothes and present
them to journalists

"and be a fashion designer."
I realised that I could be.

REPORTER: What is
a self-confessed
"fashion anarchist"

doing in bourgeois
Paris anyway?

You have to go
where you have to go,

you have to do
what you have to do,

and I certainly don't want
to be underground.

I want to be...

At a place of the most focus
that I can find.

WESTWOOD: Malcolm became
very jealous of me,
when I did fashion

and he went into
the music business.

And he used to always pretend
that everything was him.

I stayed with Malcolm
because I respected him

and had an incredible
loyalty to him.

But there came a point where

I sort of completely
outran Malcolm.

He'd stopped, really.

His thinking had, kind of,
stayed where it was.

So I got intellectually
bored with Malcolm.

CORRE: Malcolm split
from my mum, and
he was horrible when he left.

He was all full of
tension, jealousy.

I don't know, he was just
one of them sort of people

that when something changes
like that in their life,

particularly, I think,
because Vivienne had decided
that it was over.

She couldn't bear it
any longer.

And so he just turned into

a really horrible,
spiteful phase of his,

tried to smash everything up,
which he sort of did.

At a certain point,
it all sort of turned
to dust, you know.

And so he went off
to Los Angeles

to be this kind
of movie producer
kind of thing,

you know, Mr. Big Bollocks.

And we were left in Clapham
trying to pick up the pieces.

Andreas and I work together.

We both work on the fashion.

And he's been amazing.

There's an awful lot of work
needed from a fashion designer

and Andreas does
the half of it.

When you do a dress,
you've got to

work out how to do everything,

there's every little decision,

you do it more than once.

Does it make her bust smaller?
I always keep asking.

Maybe it's got so small
'cause she's losing weight,
isn't she?

WESTWOOD: You do one first,
then you make it up
in the real fabric.

Yeah, a little bit of pads
and it's nice.

-A little bit of what?
-Shoulder pads.

Then you decide how
you're going to sew it.

All the time,
you're trying it on people.

KRONTHALER:
What do you think, Vivienne?

It's really good now
you've done that.

There is something here.

He needs me all the time.

I consider myself
at this point in time,
as his reference.

Call it "muse." I'm there
to say yes or no, or...

"I don't think
we should be doing that.

"I think it'd be much better
if we tried it this way or..."

Whatever, this kind of thing.

PEPPE LOREFICE: Honestly,
everybody knows, "Vivienne,
Vivienne, Vivienne, Vivienne."

My real first shock

when I first met them
back in 2010,

was the way that she
was working with Andreas then.

At that time, 2010
or even before, since
he arrived, nobody knew.

That was my real first shock.

It was like, "Wow!"

I thought that she was
the designer, she was
deciding everything. No.

She was working like
50-50 with him.

-Good?
-Do you think so?

'Cause I think it needs
something in the back.

I don't like it all
see-through...

KRONTHALER:
She can have knickers on.

WESTWOOD:
Well, she's got knickers on.

I don't like to
see the knickers.

KRONTHALER: Is there
a tiny bit of cotton taffeta?

WESTWOOD: I mean,
that's what we want.

That's exactly what we want,
a bit of cotton taffeta.

CHRISTOPHER DI PIETRO:
Vivienne and Andreas work
in a very particular way

and I think
it's a very old-fashioned way,

but it's really how the great
couturiers have always worked.

They work with their hands.
You know, they work
on the body.

It's very physical.

Vivienne's clothes really
have a rapport with
the body as a result.

LOREFICE: She's really
an old style teacher.

He is a mess.

Like a proper student art mess

which from the mess,

from the chaos, he can create.

[INDISTINCT CHATTERING]

KRONTHALER:
I like to give my best

and I question
what I do constantly.

Of course, there are days
where I'm quite content

and maybe happy with
who I am or what I have done.

But most of the time, I'm not.
I'm really, you know...

It's hard work.

WESTWOOD: I mean,
it quite suits this sort
of business suit

she's got on to start with.

But if something's
cleaner then maybe...

Now, I don't know,
but what's her second?

I mean, I quite like
her hair scruffy as it is.

I did like it,
but I thought if we did like
a weird Marilyn version,

lift the scruff up,
it'd be quite interesting
as well, on her.

Yeah, I like that.

A little cardigan
and drapey trousers.

-Like a jogging thing.
-If she's got that, okay.

All right, that's nice.
Okay, then the clothes
are all right with that.

No, that's her
first look that one.

Okay, so we have to get
this outfit for Grace

and what I want her to do...

Um, somebody should tell her,
or I'll tell her.

I'm changing her outfit.
Where is she? I'll find her.

Oh, and you've got to
change your hair.

I'm going back to change
your hair. Where is he?

I'm changing her hair.

WOMAN: Everyone in this area,

you don't need to be standing
around here. Move back.

If you're a dresser,
stand right next to your rail.

CARLO D'AMARIO:
I meet Vivienne.

It was at a fashion show
in Paris.

At this time, to do
fashion show in Paris

was very prestigious, no?

Okay, for me, "Okay,
Vivienne, maybe I find a
good customer," you know?

Because this woman
was in Paris.

"Maybe there is some money.

"Maybe is a
good customer for me."

After two weeks,
I'm in London to see
Vivienne Westwood

and while I was there

I was very shocked
about the situation.

Punk! Oh, dear.

Okay, I want to say,
"Okay, bye. Thank you,
sorry for that.

"And ciao, bye-bye,"
and go away.

Or I remain.

This in half second
I must have decide.

And the company
was completely destroyed.

Okay, we start to
work like that.

CORRE: Carlo is funny,
I mean, I don't know.

Carlo used to have a business
that was selling carpets

and second-hand watches
and cars and things.

Kind of hippy trader
kind of guy.

I try to take
all my connection
in Italy with Elio Fiorucci

to produce us in Italy,

to fix the industry
with the creativity.

I just happened to need
to stay in Italy because
that's where I was,

the producers were, and I was
designing in a space there,

and working
with this factory
to begin with.

BELLA FREUD: When I was 22,
I was living in Rome.

And then she was working in an
Italian factory near Florence.

This factory was producing
the Mini-Crini collection

and then when
she went to Paris to do
the collection, I helped,

and I remember being
on the train with
all the kind of final pieces

that had been done
at the last minute,

and I was sleeping
on the seats.

And then the show,
you know, suddenly,

there was this show in Paris
and it was just mind-blowing.

The most beautiful things.

And all the spot shirts and...

It was just unlike
anything else.

It was so...
Really being part of that,

you really felt like
you were at the...

You know, it was
something germinating
and it just kept on and on.

It was wonderful.

[CHEERING]

[WHISTLING]

D'AMARIO: One day I go
with Fiorucci in '85.

"Elio, I need to find the
people to sponsor Vivienne."

Elio say, "Don't worry.
I call to Giorgio Armani."

At this time,
Giorgio Armani was like Pope.

We speak with his partner.

"Okay, I want to
produce Vivienne."

Good.

I'm rich.

"Okay, sign the contract."
£350,000 a year guarantee.

£350,000 at this time
was a fortune. Okay.

WESTWOOD: Carlo had got
a couple of really
good opportunities for me,

but they were
destroyed by Malcolm,

saying "You can't work with
this woman, she's my partner.

"Your agreement with her
is totally rubbish,
you're wasting your money."

You know, "I'm going
to take you to court."

It was that.
I'd forgotten Malcolm by then.

And we lose the contract
in a few words, it went...
[MIMICS EXPLOSION]

WESTWOOD: When those things
fell through,

I found myself back in England

and at that point I had to go
and get Social Security.

I didn't have
any money at all.

CORRE: I think we got
a loan from my grandmother,
Vivienne's mother, Dora,

because The Worlds End Shop
had just been closed for,

don't know, a year
and a half, two years?
Something like that.

Erm, but the landlords hadn't
rented it to anybody else

it was just still
sitting there,

and even had a bit of stock
still left in the back.

BEN WESTWOOD:
My grandfather had just died

and my grandmother
was at a loose end

so she came down to London,
so this was 1985,

she came down to London
and she worked here.

She'd worked in
her own shop before,

so she knew
what she was doing.

CORRE: And Vivienne also
started to make a few things

on her old sewing machine
again, to put in the store.

BEN: I had a driving
licence and a car,

so I used to go and do
pick up the rolls of fabric

and go to shirt makers
and go to the tailor up
in Camden Town.

CORRE: And we opened
the store again.

And even when
we opened the store,

for the first three months,
that had no electric in it

because that was all cut off
and was trying

to light the store
with candles and you know?

FREUD: I went back
to London and then
I started as her assistant.

Malcolm would
behave really badly

and he'd made it
very difficult for her,

and she just carried on
working, she was working
from her flat,

and it was just the two
of us for a while.

Then, Murray started working,

and all sorts of people
came but, that was way
before Andreas.

MURRAY BLEWETT: I was 23,
and I was a very young sort
of 23, I guess.

And I was so honoured
to be, sort of...

It was a big deal for me.

It was in Camden Town.

Carlo D'Amario used to
call it Bombay.

It was really great.
It was above an
old carpet shop.

It was really rancid,
really rickety and old,

and I loved it.

FREUD: You know, the people
that were involved,

it was as if they'd discovered
the meaning of life,

and it was
the meaning of life.

It's funny how clothes
can be so emotional,

the making of these
things that you put on

and they make you able
to face the world,

and in a kind of,
you know, spectacular way.

WESTWOOD: I had
a success to start with.

But the way it works
is that when you are new
and you do something new,

then everybody's on to
you. They've discovered
this new thing,

and they all want to
discover you all
at the same time.

Then, you just get left
and they want to know
what's the next latest thing,

that's how the English
press treated me.

I was always treated
well in Italy.

TV HOST:
I know every time you
do a collection, they say,

"Crikey, Viv's blown it,"
don't they?

They say Viv's blown it,
we don't know whether
Viv's blown it this time

because this is the new
collection, what's it called?

Well, I'd like to describe it,
it's called Time Machine,
this one.

HOST: Time Machine,
here we go.

[AUDIENCE CHUCKLES]

Tell us about this one then.

FREUD: When she started,
people mocked her.

Are people supposed to laugh?
I mean, they're laughing.

FREUD: I remember
when she was on
the Terry Wogan Show,

everyone laughed.

I mean, they didn't
show the audience,
which was literally...

Everyone was over about 80.

HOST: I mean, what's so...

If they don't stop laughing,

I shall tell the next person
not to come on.

HOST: Oh, dear,
you're not to laugh.

Is this a winter collection?

Yeah.

And I've never met
this response before.

It's like Vivienne had
been invited on the show
to be a joke.

It was like she almost
had to justify herself.

You design these clothes
not because they're witty

but because you believe
they are attractive

and they make people
more attractive?

Yeah, that's it, yeah.

It really made me furious
but she didn't give a fuck.

She came out at
the end and she said,

"Oh, that was just
the best reaction
I have had since punk."

And on that note,
we haven't upset you, have we?

-No. Not in the least.
-You're very kind.

Listen, I don't mind,
in fact I'm quite pleased,

but I usually don't get
that kind of reaction.
It's strange.

Get this reaction,
ladies and gentlemen,
Vivienne Westwood.

[AUDIENCE APPLAUDS]

CORRE: But there was loads
and loads of that

where she was always
considered the sort of
joke, you know?

And in the end, they couldn't
ignore her any more.

WESTWOOD: I can't remember
at what point the company
became successful,

but eventually it did.

I'm still not happy
with my company

because at this point in time,

it's actually expanded
too much for me.

Just the stripes are wrong,
that's why it's not fastened.

WESTWOOD: I'm in danger
of not being able to control
everything properly,

and I certainly don't need to
sell anything I don't like.

I don't know who's in charge
of this kind of thing.

Who's going to tell
the factory that this
is unacceptable?

That's what I want to know.

I don't even know
who is going to tell them.

Don't worry, I'll find out.

It's very lucky
we tried it on,

otherwise, nothing would
have happened with this.

WESTWOOD: I need
to reduce my product,

and I'm having to sort of
pull it back and rework
things all the time,

so that nothing gets left,

so it gets tacky or
it's done in not a good
way or something.

And, therefore,
I don't want to expand

because that means
I can't, you know, look after

the problem that's close
to me well enough,

'cause I've got too many
things to deal with.

This is Marcia who,
of course, hasn't been
introduced properly.

Yeah, hello, Marcia, I see.

So she, now, is responsible,
I've found, for selling
this collection.

Yeah, wait a minute,
Marcia, did you sell it
to Gregor yesterday?

-Yes, we did.
-'Cause he said you
didn't know anything.

The person who didn't
know your name,

but you said
she didn't understand
the collection at all.

So, that's you.

So now I've interrupted,
what do you want to tell me?
Murray?

I just wanted to
introduce you,

I mean, I've been working
with Marcia today,

she's getting a lot more
informed now.

Okay, and it's probably
not your fault at all,

-you know,
I mean, but because...
-Let's change it up...

No, it's not,
it's not just that,

it's just that
the connections aren't here.

The company has grown
and it has become very big

and she can't just press
a button and undo all that.

She's got a duty to
support the people

who are here
who have worked for her.

And it's very difficult
to just undo some
of those decisions

that have been made,
not by her, by the way.

You know, I don't know
anything about the marketing
people, as I've said.

I don't know what they do.

I don't know what information
they need from me.

Erm, maybe there should be
some way that these people

start to understand early on
what they're doing
with the collection.

-Mmm-hmm.
-I'm really, really,
you know, just so frustrated

as to trying to find out
what the heck they're doing.

I mean, they're wandering
about doing, I think, damage.

I really don't know.

And I'm still of that
opinion, I still haven't
found out what they do.

They explain to me,
ever so patiently always,
what they do

and I come away and
I don't know what they've
been talking about really.

DI PIETRO: I think some
things were not exactly
how she had envisaged them,

um, and we are
tweaking the concept,
which is a normal thing.

A company has to have
some kind of growth plan

but it's not about
world domination.

All right then, okay.

It is about your
visibility as a brand.

HOST: We're honoured,
ma'am, that you're able
to be with us this evening,

to present the 1990
Designer of the Year Award.

CORRE:
That fashion industry was
so against her from day one,

they never liked her,

and they didn't like
to see her kind of come up.

You know, it was embarrassing

going to those
fashion award things

where they kept giving out
the Designer of the Year

to everybody else
apart from her.

Well, the winner,
Vivienne Westwood.

ANNOUNCER: Designer
of the Year couldn't have gone
to anyone else this year

other than Vivienne Westwood.

The designers have made
their thoughts known
over the last couple of days

and the fashion press
have positively demanded it.

Good evening, everyone.

[CHEERING]

Oh!

MAN: I think as a designer
she's a loose cannon, really.

Fashion needs continuity and
an actual design philosophy,

which I don't think she has.

-HOST: But is she good?
-Not in my opinion, no.

CORRE: It just was
a joke, you know.

And in the end,
they had to give it
to her twice in a row

because it was so fucking
embarrassing for them.

And it's my pleasure
to announce that
the Designer of the Year is...

Oh, dear, Vivienne Westwood.

ANNOUNCER: So far,
no designer has been awarded

Designer of the Year
twice in a row

but Vivienne Westwood
celebrated here tonight
for her awesome contributions

to the British and
international fashion arena.

Long may they last.

The best thing about
winning this award

is a personal thing,

the fact that one
is appreciated.

REPORTER: It's regarded
as something of a disgrace
in the fashion industry

that it's taken 20 years for
Vivienne Westwood to be
given wider recognition

and now that she has,
that no financial sponsors
had the courage to back her.

PHOTOGRAPHER:
Bring it up and perhaps above
the head, it's nice and happy.

WESTWOOD: So I don't' know
at what point my company
was a success.

And I think I would remember
when it did become a success,

it's true.

At one point, we closed
our Davis Street shop

to give it a coat of paint

and we took a temporary shop
in Conduit Street.

But we really started
to make a lot of money

because we were on the
track where people passed.

We weren't out of the way.

And then sales increased

and we built it up
from a real business
of actually selling clothes.

REPORTER:
Designer and activist,
Dame Vivienne Westwood

joined Greenpeace today,
south of the North Pole,

aboard the ship Esperanza,

alongside scientists,
she'll be observing
the impact of climate change

on the Arctic environment.

WESTWOOD:
About six or seven years ago,
I read in The Guardian

an article by this amazing
scientist, James Lovelock.

And he said he thought
by the end of this century,
the 21st century,

he thought there would be
one billion people left.

You know,
it just shocked me so much.

It just froze me,
I was traumatised.

So I realised that this
environmental problem

was of incredible
consuming urgency,

the human race facing
mass extinction.

And then, of course,
the point is what can we
do to save ourselves?

Throughout my life,
all my motivation
has been because

I've been so upset
about what can happen

to people in the world
and I've always been so lucky.

So everything became
the urgent need
to save the environment.

WOMAN: So, Vivienne
came down today.

We've got this big
climate march on
the 21st of September.

I know it clashes
in with Fashion Week.

She wants banners done.

-The deadline is the 18th.
-Mmm-hmm.

And was wondering...
[GROANS]

Was wondering if
you could kindly let
your interns help us.

Need to be done by the 18th.

WOMAN 2: How many do you need?

Around ten really big,
beautiful fracking banners.

That's quite a lot.

That's what I mean,
I feel really bad.

WESTWOOD: I'm going to put
"Democracy" shining over
the top like rays of light

because we don't have
any democracy in England.

KRONTHALER: We have
a different approach

in that she always likes
to give it this meaning

and she likes when clothes
have this message,

which I...

Think is good
or not good.
I'm not sure.

I'm a bit, sometimes,
bored by it, but then
she shouldn't hear that.

I'm not very much bothered
about this, you know?

It just needs to look good
and I need to like it
and I'm happy with it.

DI PIETRO: She cares deeply
whether she's going to be
able to change the world

to make it a better place.

Fracking!

[CROWD SHOUTING]

We're looking at everything
we do and trying to do less.

But the most sustainable
thing you could do

is shut the company
down, perhaps.

But actually, of course,
we are employing
a lot of people

and you've got to do it
in a more sustainable way.

That's the answer, really.

This is the most amazing thing
I've ever thought of or said.

The total rotten financial
system is the enemy,
it's like the hydra.

Don't start chopping off...
I shouldn't mention
chopping heads now,

but you've got to
kill the machine
that is destroying us.

The only way to kill
the machine is to change
to a green economy

which is a rich economy,
a fair economy.

So, if we could get
everybody to switch

to a green energy company,

it would be the first step
in the green economy.

LOREFICE: Here, there's
so many things going on.

Here, there are like meetings,
meetings, and meetings,

company meetings,
the bags meeting,
shoes meetings.

Then Vivienne, she keeps
herself super busy
with the climate revolution

and all the appointments and
the meetings that she has.

NGO, blogs, website,

so maybe the collection
can be done in three days.

I don't know,

let's see how.

This is so important
to realise,

to have a perspective
of what is going on
on our planet.

[CROWD CHEERING]

MAN: Thank you,
Vivienne Westwood.

KRONTHALER: We have to
really hurry up now

because now to cancel
it is hara-kiri number five.

We work on it,
we don't even look at it.

Not good.

VIVIENNE: Andreas has been
having such a hard time.

He's so tired, really,
and he's so upset.

Because it's just
such a hard work

and he hasn't had
much help from me

and that's made
a big difference.

You know, we used
to do it together

but now I'm depending
on him to do it

mostly on his own, really,

and it's too much
for him, I know.

It's really terrible.
Anyway, so he's
getting exhausted.

Everything.

Everything I asked you
was not done.

They had no socks on.
I don't know why

people don't go downstairs and
get some socks from the shop.

I mean, it's just...
They're five people.

No, that's true. There was no
socks, and they were all...

But they're downstairs.

One flight of stair down
and there are some socks.

But they're all mixed.
From the gold label,
most of them.

What do you mean, "mixed?"

We had no socks.
You had ten pairs of socks
you tried all the fitting on.

And they were spring-summer.

This, I don't care.

You just need to go downstairs
in the shop and get the socks.

I mean, that's just thick.

Useless!

I'll do it myself next time.

For the socks?

For everything.

Anyway, you can go.
Do your washing.

Erm...

Okay.

They're all in plastic bags.

Everything in see-through
plastic bags.

KRONTHALER: Just do
another half-turn, please.

-Okay.
-Just like that.

D'AMARIO: Fashion is one
of the most tough
businesses in the world.

I'm very proud because
if you see Vivienne Westwood,

we are, yeah, big family
around the world, no?

We are in America, in Europe,
in Asia, in India, everywhere.

Hundred and twenty shop.

We give a job for 400 person,

and we're independent.

If you see other people,
Stella McCartney, McQueen,

Galliano, Jean Paul Gaultier,

everybody belongs
to big corporate,

and Vivienne is
an independent.

On top of Vivienne
there is Vivienne,

nobody tells to Vivienne
what she must do.

Of course,
this kind of freedom,

you must pay for that.

Independent means
you must work
three times more.

You just have to think,
"I've got a few seconds

"and I'm just going
to look great."

And in your head
it should be,

"Everybody loves me.

"And today, I'm being grown up

"because I'm wearing
rather grown-up clothes."

Okay.

And you can be a bad child
if you want, as well.
If you want.

[MODELS LAUGHING]

LOREFICE: You see
a fashion show and, of course,

you got the make-up,
you got the crazy hair.

But, at the same time,
we want to try to sell them.

So, the day after,
we have... What is that?

The "presentation,"

to all our managers
from London, Paris,
Milan, L.A., New York,

and our partner, which
they come from Japan,
Taiwan, China, South Korea,

and who else knows
better the collection

than Vivienne and Andreas?
Nobody else.

Excuse me, either
come or go, please.

Either sit down
or fuck off yourselves.

Listen, our shops, erm...

I decided that

I want this company
to be one that sells
only things that I like

and unfortunately
it's expanded so quickly

and I'm awfully suspicious
that our expansion

has been based more on
quantity rather than quality.

I'm not interested
in the money.

Sorry. And I know you are,

but this is what I want.

I want people to buy
the best that we've got

and build their customers
and not expanding.

Anyway, so,
that's not Andreas, is it?

-Andreas?
-KRONTHALER: You continue.

-Sorry?
-KRONTHALER: You continue.

No, I won't.
I was waiting for you.

KRONTHALER: But it's not
my job to speak in front
of all these people.

Well, I thought it was, that's
what we've been waiting for.

Well, whose job is this, then?

-The sales people.
-Okay.

I don't know where
the sales people are.

Who sells this collection?

Anyway, last season
we did it ourselves

and they're probably
expecting us to do it again,
so there we are.

Anyway, I really love
the feeling of poverty
about these things,

the neutral colour
and it's not in your face,

it's just the woman.

It's just not prepared.
It's crazy.

Looks absolutely great.

Sorry, okay,
so there in the collection,

there were one or two things
we didn't show because
they didn't work.

I've just to got to make sure
that we take them out

of what's on the rails and in
the selling book. Anyway...

ANDRE LEON TALLEY:
She is a dress designer
and she's an activist.

She's passionate about
other issues, other than
just putting a dress on.

What I'm very surprised is,

and I think it's
the height of elegance,
is that on this day

when she is opening
a store in Manhattan,

Vivienne has chosen
not to fly across the pond

and she's sitting at home
working on her thesis

about global warming
or capitalism.

She's very concerned
about our planet.

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

WESTWOOD:
I'm having a rave of a time.

I've sorted
the whole company out.

I've got everybody
doing what I want.

The plan is we've got
to work with the designers.

That's what's been wrong.

I can't believe,
when I'm looking into it,

there's shops worldwide.

How many pairs of fucking
plastic shoes we sell
and all that stuff.

I can't believe it.

And, of course,
I'm the designer and
I've got total control

because I can just say,

"Look, if I don't like
the design, then you can't...

"If I don't like
my own designs,
I can't give them to you,

"I've got artistic control."

I mean,
it's very, very simple.

[INDISTINCT CHATTERING]

WESTWOOD: I always wondered
what it would look like
with a black ceiling.

I always wanted
a black ceiling.

Andreas won't do it.

[SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY]

I always like to try it
and see if it works.

Hello. Hello, Simone.

-How are you?
-I'm all right. Thank you.

I haven't made my mind up
about the shop yet.
I'm just only...

-You're just taking
everything in.
-Yeah, yeah.

I've got to make my mind up.

I'm in the process
of absorbing it at the moment.

[HISSING]

WESTWOOD:
It must stop growing,

but it's very, very
difficult to do that.

But we've been trying
to open the shop in Paris
for the last ten years.

That doesn't mean
to say we're expanding,
that was in the plan before

and there's no reason
to break that.

But then, Carlo, my manager,
was planning to open
a shop in Beijing

and I've stopped that.

[INDISTINCT CHATTERING]

LOREFICE:
She wasn't happy design-wise.

Even to say she hates it.

I hate the music.

LOREFICE:
It doesn't feel like Westwood,

but, at the same time,
not even Vivienne Westwood
or Andreas

knows where they are now.

That shop, it reflect

maybe even the problem
we got inside,

because we have a problem.
It's like being a family,

where you got the drunk aunty,
you got the gay uncle,

you got, you know,
the crazy kids,

you have this big family
and you can't control
them altogether.

But, at least we're
still working on it.

WESTWOOD:
It's very difficult,

but everything we do
has got to be solved
in a different way

in order to slowly
get to this point

and, I don't know,
it's really difficult

to get from here to there.
That's all.

But we're slowly doing it.

REPORTER: The fashion world
is honoured, with an OBE

going to the flamboyant
fashion designer,
Vivienne Westwood.

WESTWOOD: People were
very impressed by it.

All the people
who work with me

are very pleased
because they feel that
they share in it, really.

CORRE: There were a few
things that I thought
were milestones, I suppose.

One was when we bought the
building for the head office.

That was quite a milestone
because it felt like,

"Right, well, we kind of
own that now."

I decided I couldn't
work with Carlo.

It was, had to be one
or the other of us,

and my mother decided
that she needed him,

which hurt a bit,
but I also felt
I was young enough,

and I was kind of
at the time where
I wanted to go

and do something
for myself anyway.

But before I left, the one
thing that I made her do

was sign this licence deal
with a Japanese company,

'cause I know the minimum
royalties on this contract,
she'll be okay.

Carlo hadn't wanted
her to sign this deal,

and I made her sign
the deal, and the lawyers,

in front of Carlo
and everyone.

"You've got to sign this."

And after she'd done that,

I felt she was
gonna be all right.

WESTWOOD: You're going
to take this and show it
to Martina at whatever stage,

and get that sorted out
and I've got to tell you

which mesh to use.

There won't be
any more pleats there

'cause this one is the one
that just comes anyway

in the way the fabric's cut,
there's no folding there.

Yeah.

-It's very nice.
-Yeah.

I think it's going to
look great, just going to
put it on Kate Moss.

She'll look lovely in it.

Okay, so I'll give
that to you.

Uh-huh, thank you.

Do you want to take
this corset with you, as well?

And the corset, as well.

All right.

[AUDIENCE APPLAUDING]

KATE MOSS: Those shows,
they were so outrageous.

You know,
champagne was flowing,

and we'd go out naked
and lollipops and,

you know, just outrageous,

but really glamorous
at the same time.

They were the ones
that went "Oh, my God!"
It was so exciting.

[AUDIENCE GASPS]

That's now part of
my history, which is fun.
I've got the shoes.

There was a pair
in the museum in London.

I got an insurance
commercial out of it.

You know, it's done well
for Vivienne and I, both.

[APPLAUDING]

MOSS: She's a rebel,
isn't she? So...
Which attracts me.

Coming from Croydon,
we wanted to get out
and she was like our Queen.

CHRISTINA HENDRICKS:
Provocative,
beautiful, respectful.

It's hard to imagine
that one designer could
be all of those things.

CARINE ROITFELD:
I love her femininity,
I love everything she do.

And she's not so young and
she still can wear fashion.

And she's never ridiculous.

She's one of
the only one, I think.

PAMELA ANDERSON: She's iconic.

And she's at the top
of her game,
she's so authentic.

And you know she's
on this planet for a reason.

To stir it up a little bit.

[CHEERING]

BEN: She's a punk rocker.

She's the only punk rocker.

[CHEERING AND WHISTLING]

WESTWOOD:
I can't be bothered.

Who wants to listen
to all this stuff?

I mean, the film's
only a certain length.

I'm sure
there's more interesting
things to put into it.

-[SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]
-Space!

[INDISTINCT CHATTERING]

KATE MOSS: I remembered
the shows but I can't
remember which one,

and we were back stage
and she went,

"Kate, you know
I've never been into girls

"but I could
have got into you."

And then, like, hugged me.

She was like,
"I could have been
her only lesbian lover."

Ker-ching!

[INDISTINCT CHATTERING]

The position of Vivienne now
is a part of the system, no?

Like Lady Diana, like Big Ben,

like, "Mind the gap,"

"good morning,"
Travel Express,
this kind of thing.

[INDISTINCT CHATTERING]

You know, Vivienne
is very outspoken person.

Sometimes too outspoken,
silly outspoken, you know.

She knows it.

But you need people like this.

These are the people
who are changing things.

[INDISTINCT CHATTERING]

[INDISTINCT CHATTERING]

[APPLAUDING]

[INDISTINCT CHATTERING]

-WESTWOOD: What's his name?
-MAN: Tinie, Tinie Tempah.

-Tinie Tempah.
-Yes.

[ALL LAUGHING]

But I'm a quite
well-known musician, but...

Yeah, I'm sure,
'cause I just don't follow
pop things, you know.

I understand.

-Tinie Tempah, is that...
-Tinie Tempah, correct.

I'm very good on lyrics,
you know, and sound bites
and everything.

-Inspiration.
-Yes.

[INDISTINCT CHATTERING]