In this extract from ‘Vivienne Westwood Catwalk’, Alexander Fury offers a glimpse inside the world of this epoch-defining designer. Since her catwalk debut in 1981, Westwood has smashed conventions and brought counter-cultural fashion to the world stage. In 2021, she continues to wield her endless curiosity and punk sensibilities in a ‘crusade against the expected’.
Precarious ladders, precious finds, and Edwardian women parachutists. We don our wellies and adventure behind the scenes of ‘Mudlark’d’ to discover what wig curlers, cufflinks and coins can reveal about centuries of everyday Londoners.
We sat down with Gill Saunders, Senior Curator of Prints at the V&A, to chat about Eric Ravilious’s classic ‘High Street’, exploring surreal cheesemongers, visual puns, the lasting impact of the Blitz, and the legacy of this quintessentially English artist.
In one of her final interviews, Barbara Hepworth wished for ‘ten lifetimes to express the variations and subtleties which one lifetime can give.’ The one that she did live was far from ordinary, shaped in turn by artistic triumph, personal tragedy, and an ‘intrinsic will to life’.
‘A House Party in Tuscany’ author Amber Guinness recommends the Thames & Hudson books that have inspired her recently – including artful picks from David Hockney and Eric Ravilious, and ‘a glorious celebration of female creativity’.