British designer, the late Vivienne Westwood. Exhibition at Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand

 Hi there

I went to see the Vivienne Westwood Exhibition at Te Papa this week.  Jewellery and fashion. She came to fame from about the 1970s, in the punk era.  

Her papier mâché tiara.  Stock photo

I am a friend of Te Papa, so I chose to listen to the curator's talk.  I was surprised to discover that 80% of the accessories on display were only worn on the runway, and never for sale.  They were put together probably at last minute out of papier mâché, and any other sort of stuff that was on hand, like elastic, buttons, paint, glass, sequins ...   Up close it was noticeable that some of the accessories were made hurriedly, but it would have been spectacular watching models sashaying down a runway, wearing the  Westwood makeshift jewellery

We saw a papier mâché tiara that Vivienne appropriated for herself after it had been worn on the runway.  She was invited to a posh affair where titled people were wearing genuine tiaras.  She proudly wore this fake tiara to the do.  It did look tacky at Te Papa.

above:  That's a picture of Westwood in the background

above:  Westwood originally tried making bustiers as seen in old masterpieces, but customers complained they were too tight.  She solved the problem by being the first designer of bustiers to put in elastic sides.

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Westwood strongly believed that designers should look to the past for ideas.  She haunted art galleries searching for designs that she could change to a more modern concept.