Malcolm Garret’s personal collection of Vivienne Westwood Designs
Mon – Sat, 10am – 4pm at The Atkinson
Until 28 March 2020
Free entry
A new exhibition about designer Vivienne Westwood is now on in Southport. Westwood is an iconic British designer and her influence on the Punk movement in the 1970s is well documented.
This collection is owned by British Graphic Designer Malcolm Garret who donated it to Manchester Met University and some of his collection is now on display in The Atkinson. Malcolm known for his work with artists including Simple Minds, Duran Duran, The Buzzcocks and Peter Gabriel said of the exhibition,
I have loved and owned Vivienne’s clothes for years, my first purchase was the Bondage Jacket in 1978. Her clothes represent the times they were made. Due to the nature of the lives, the people wearing these clothes led during the 1970s and 80s, many of the iconic pieces have been lost or destroyed, which makes the collection all the more remarkable
Two years in the planning, the exhibition was brought about by a chance encounter with the collection by the exhibition curator Jo Chamberlain,
I saw a rail full of clothes on a visit to Manchester University and asked what they were about
A tour of the collection led Jo to the planning of this story of Westwood,
I became fascinated by Vivienne, what she now stands for and what she represents. On a research visit to the Westwood shop in Liverpool, I struck up a friendship with Chris the manager. He is a lifelong devotee of Westwood and has amassed an amazing collection of his own. He has shared his personal scrapbooks of Vivienne’s life which we have digitised and put on display. I now understood the passion and loyalty people feel towards Westwood and felt this was a story people would connect with.
The exhibition includes many of her clothes, shoes, handbags and famous corsets. Set out on a lit runway the clothes tell a story of Britain in recent times. Upon leaving the exhibition you can find out more about Westwood’s latest passion – her work on Climate Change and her Save the Artic campaign.
The exhibition includes her famous Squiggle wallpaper, slogans and her artistic influences. As detailed in the picture, Westwood was influenced by the past, the painting Daphnis and Chloe by François Boucher (1703-1770) is an influence on the clothes from 1992/1993 with the designs clearly representing Boucher’s painting.
Westwood
21 September – 28 March 2020
Mon – Sat, 10am – 4pm, Free entry
www.theatkinson.co.uk
There is no affiliation between the Vivienne Westwood brand and this exhibition.