. In 1971, Trevor Myles, owner of Paradise Garage, a boutique located at 430 Kings Road, rented the back of his store to Vivienne Westwood, then a primary school teacher, and her boyfriend Malcolm McLaren. The hippie movement was the most popular fashion in late 1960s London, but it didn’t inspire young Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren. They were much more intrigued by acts of rebellion and typical 1950s clothing, music, and memorabilia. They took over the lease of the store later in 1971, painting the Chuck Berry song title Let it Rock onto a black corrugated façade in fluorescent pink letters. They furnished the store like a 50s living room littered with porno mags, and, interested in the subversive aesthetics of Teddy Boy revivalists, began selling brothel creepers and zoot suits finished with velvet by the tailor Sid Green.

A year later, Vivienne’s interests had turned to biker clothing, zips, and leather. The shop re-branded with a skull and crossbones and was renamed Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die.

Vivienne and Malcolm began to design their own t-shirts with provocative printed slogans, which led to their prosecution under the 1959 Obscene Publications Act; they responded by re-branding the shop once again and producing even more t-shirts featuring hard-core images.

By 1974 the shop was renamed Sex, a shop “unlike anything else going on in England at the time” they used the slogan ‘rubberwear for the office’.

Vivienne used her creations to communicate ideas – often using graphics to confront issues of political and social injustice. The swastika symbol seen on the 1977 Anarchy Shirt, designed by Westwood & McLaren, was laid over an inverted image of Christ on the crucifix and Queen Elizabeth II on a British stamp, with the word 'DESTROY' emblazoned above the image. The graphics were meant as a provocative act of denouncing corruption and dictatorship. More broadly, it was a meant as a means to challenge the older generation, of saying “We don’t accept your values or your taboos - you’re all fascists.”

Seditionaries

Two years later, popular band the Sex Pistols’ (managed by Malcolm) song ‘God Save the Queen’ went to number one in the charts but was refused airtime by the BBC. The shop reopened as Seditionaries, transforming the straps and zips of obscure sexual fetishism and bondage into fashion, and inspiring a D.I.Y. aesthetic. The mass media labelled this as ‘Punk Rock’.

Worlds End

The collapse of the Sex Pistols and the adoption of punk by the mainstream left Vivienne disenchanted. In 1980 the shop was refitted and renamed Worlds End, which is still the name that’s in use today.

In1981 ‘Pirate’ Collection was Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s first official collaborative catwalk show. It informed the aesthetic of The Worlds End Boutique with its pirate’s galleon and ship features. This collection was filled with romantic looks in gold, orange, and yellow which burst onto the London fashion scene, ensuring its place in the house’s history of influence.
‘We’ve only stopped to note significant innovations, otherwise, the ideas carry through and develop throughout the collections.’ ‘Pirate’, Autumn-Winter 1981/82 was their first catwalk show. Looking at plundering history and the Third World. The research was into historical dress, keeping the original cuts as fashion. Inspired by Native American patterns, the ‘Pirate’ trousers had a baggy bum, in complete contrast to hippy hipsters and ‘tight arses’ of the time. The position of the neck when worn, was asymmetrical. 

Pirate A/W 1981

Savage S/S 1982

Flat cutting from Japan. – Inspired by: Matisse and Picasso. – “In taking from other cultures I’m just doing what Picasso did in his painting Demoiselles d’Avignon’” (Vivienne) – Examines rapport between clothes and the body. – Slashed sleeves and contrast linings. – David Lynch’s ‘The Elephant Man’ inspired foreign legion hats.

Buffalo Girls (Nostalgia of Mud), A/W 1982/83

Colours: Mud. – Raw cut sheepskin. – Bras – underwear as outerwear. – Inspiration: Peruvian women wearing bowler hats and full skirts, dancing with their babies tied on their back.

Punkature S/S 1983

Inspiration: ‘Blade Runner’, desert landscape. – Distressed fabric and recycled junk. – Punk and couture. – Hand-dyed, hand-stitched. – Shoes of disused tyres and cord from favelas. – Giant tin can buttons. – The jersey Tube skirt.

Witches: A/W 1984/85

“Witches”. – Hip Hop, styling of garments. – Stop-frame look. – White trainers customised with three tongues. – Pointed Chico Marx hats.

Hypnos, Spring-Summer 1984 – Image: Greek God of Sleep – Collection nothing to do with sleep. – Very active, sportswear as high fashion. – Collaboration with Malcolm McLaren ceased. – Made in Italy. – Inspiration: gay subcultures. – Herpes sores makeup.

Clint Eastwood, Autumn-Winter 1984/85 – Vivienne said, “Sometimes you need to transport your idea to an empty landscape and then populate it with fantastic looking people.” – Fluorescent big macs and body stockings, clothes covered in company logos. – Day-Glo patches inspired by Tokyo’s neon signs.