Vivienne Westwood : An Ode to Human Rights

Paul Valley at the Independent asked Bono in a May-issued interview if celebrities have the power to change the world. No, is his simple conclusion. Though, adding at the end that “celebrity involvement can make campaigns fashionable, helping to build momentum that NGOs would otherwise struggle to achieve”.

This brings to mind Dame Vivienne Westwood... Who could forget her involvement in movements such as the “Stop the War coalition”, and the co-work with Liberty? Designing t-shirts emblazoned with the message “I’m not a terrorist” projected the widespread concern about the government’s anti-terror measures. It was her upbringing, plus the influence of a politically passionate schoolteacher that primarily coloured her opinion on Habeas Corpus.

Her highly controversial prêt-a-porter collections have, of course, been full of radical twists too; we’re not just referring to the “bondage suit” created in the seventies for Malcolm MacLaren. Interviewed recently by Dazed and Confused, Westwood talks about the Leonard Peltier case and how that has influenced some of her most recent collections. “It was shocking, the in-your-face and blatant legal manipulation, the abuse of the law, and to do that to Leonard. He has spent 28 years in jail and there is no proof at all that he committed a crime.”

Westwood, recently honoured Dame, organised a petition for the wrongly imprisoned Peltier, collecting the signatures of Elton John, Giorgio Armani, Marc Jacobs and Madonna, to name but a few. Vogue raved about her a/w 2006 collection (pictured above), and referred to Westwood as a “statement maker” that knew what she was talking about. We couldn’t agree more.