In 1971, Trevor Myles, the owner of a boutique called Paradise Garage, rented the back of his store to the couple. By late 1971, Westwood and McLaren had taken over the lease entirely, transforming the space into a shrine to 1950s rebellion.

They named the store Let It Rock

The storefront was a statement of intent. They painted the façade in black corrugated iron, emblazoned with the Chuck Berry song title "Let It Rock" in screaming fluorescent pink letters. The interior was furnished to look like a tawdry 1950s living room, deliberately littered with pornography magazines to challenge British sensibilities. Capitalizing on the "Teddy Boy" revival, the shop specialized in the subversive aesthetics of the 1950s. They sold brothel creepers and draped zoot suits finished with velvet collars by the tailor Sid Green.

The only constant with Westwood and McLaren was reinvention. Just a year after opening Let It Rock, the shop underwent a dramatic transformation. Vivienne’s interests had shifted away from the Teddy Boy look toward a tougher, more aggressive style.

The shop was rebranded as Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die. The fluorescent pink was gone, replaced by a massive skull and crossbones motif.

• The velvet and drapes of the previous year gave way to biker clothing, heavy zippers, and leather.

This constant evolution at 430 King’s Road established Westwood and McLaren not just as shopkeepers, but as the architects of a new, rebellious British youth culture that was rapidly gathering speed.

By 1974, the biker leather of Too Fast to Live had begun to feel too traditional for the pair. McLaren and Westwood were looking for something more confrontational, something that would tear down the wall between private taboo and public street style.

This was the incarnation that would birth the Punk movement. The shopfront featured massive, 4ft high pink foam rubber letters spelling out the name, a bold declaration that shocked the conservative Chelsea neighborhood.hey renamed the shop SEX.

Inside, the shop felt like a illicit cavern. The walls were covered in chicken wire and graffiti. It was a place for outsiders, prostitutes, and the youth who would eventually form the Sex Pistols (managed by McLaren).

Westwood began experimenting with rubberwear and fetish gear as daywear. The racks were filled with PVC, bondage trousers connected by straps between the knees, spiked collars, and t-shirts bearing provocative slogans. It was anti-fashion designed to offend the establishment.

As the Punk movement exploded into the mainstream media—largely fueled by the notoriety of the Sex Pistols—the shop needed to evolve again to reflect the chaos of the time. In 1976, it was transformed into Seditionaries.

The shop was redesigned to look like a "bombed-out" concrete bunker. It was stark, industrial, and aggressive.

The clothes became canvases for political dissent. Westwood produced the iconic "Anarchy in the UK" and "God Save the Queen" shirts, often featuring safety pins, razor blades, and inside-out seams. The "Bondage Suit"—a militaristic suit with straps limiting movement—became the uniform of the era.

Worlds End

The collapse of the Sex Pistols and the adoption of punk by the mainstream left Vivienne disenchanted Punk had become a parody of itself. Westwood, seeking to be taken seriously as a fashion designer, and McLaren, looking for the next sound, shifted gears entirely. They looked away from the gutter and towards history and romance. In 1980 the shop was refitted and renamed Worlds End,. which is still the name that’s in use today. The façade was redesigned to look like an old galleon. The most famous feature is the large 13-hour clock mounted on the front, with hands that whizz backwards—symbolizing a disregard for standard time and a return to the past. By the turn of the decade,

In 1981 the ‘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.

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.