40 years of Brit punk Issue #31

San Francisco’s de Young Museum celebrates Vivienne Westwood

By Amy Westervelt
Published: March 1st, 2007 | 12:00am

If you think a corset, kilt, short leather jacket, or big platform boots are cool — especially when worn all together — you are a disciple of Vivienne Westwood. Often credited with birthing punk fashion in 1970s London, Westwood has managed to become a fashion icon without ever really selling out. Now her career and her style are being commemorated in a traveling retrospective of her 40 years in the fashion industry. Organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the exhibit is traveling the world, making a sole stop in the U.S. at the de Young Museum in San Francisco from March 3 to June 10. If you don’t live in the area or get a chance to visit — but love Westwood enough to drop 35 clams — the V&A has produced a snazzy catalogue to accompany the exhibit with plenty of poster-worthy images.