Vivienne Westwood- The Corset Pioneer
Updated: Nov 22, 2023
Thumbnail Design: Bethany Hutchison
Image Credit: VivienneWestwood.com, John Rankin Waddell, EL CYCÉR & Thames & Hudson
Ripped paper texture: Adobe Stock
Introduction
It has been known by many that Vivienne Westwood was one of the most influential, outspoken and pioneering designers of her time. Ranging from jewellery and bags to made to wear and couture wedding dresses there is not much that the designer did not tackle in her eighty-one years of life. Westwood first became a prominent figure to me during 2020 when her signature orb necklace began to grow notoriety on Gen Z social media platforms such as TikTok. Although I was initially fascinated by the necklace, I soon quickly found the streams of influencers buying and promoting the item incredibly tedious and repetitive. Armed with this discontent I decided to see what else the designer had to offer. That is when I came across a baby blue cat corset created by Westwood for her 2014 capsule collection. Immediately I was drawn to the beauty of the corset and have since been a firm favourite of the corsetry work of Westwood. So, If you’re thinking how did these corsets come about? Where did corsetry initially originate and why have corsets had such a resurgence in recent years? Then sit back and prepare yourself for a whistle stop tour of the history of corsets and art which inspired Westwood’s work.
(Bass- Krueger & Elle, 2021) states that corsets first began to gain popularity in the sixteenth century as underwear for both men and women. However, there is evidence that corsets have been a garment worn by individuals as far back as 1600 BC. It can therefore be inferred that corsets are a timeless item of clothing as they are still popular now in the twenty-first century. However, the aesthetic properties and designs of corsets have undergone drastic transformations through each century. Corsets originated in aristocratic court culture and were deemed a symbol of nobility, wealth and opulence. However, despite being incredibly exclusive garments they were not comfortable for the wearer. This is most explicitly suggested in 18th century corsetry which was referred to as ‘stay’ otherwise known as stiff due to the use of whalebone and metal within the garments in order to maintain a stiff and rigid shape and create the desired silhouette for the wearer.
The desired aesthetic outcome for corsets has changed throughout time (such as the inverted cone, hour glass and S shape physique) and reflects the different aesthetics of the era. For example, the French corsets of 1890 were designed in order to enhance and/or create the illusion of a full bust, nipped waist and curved hips. In order to achieve this look the corsets were created using a cotton twill which was structured with baleen and steel bones. However, despite these ideals being achieved through corsetry in the nineteenth century women’s health concerns also started to gain traction with some individuals blaming corsets for issues such as respiratory diseases, deformity to the ribs, damage to internal organs, birth defects, and miscarriages. Although these were widely speculated in the nineteenth century contemporary fashion historians such as Valerie Steele and Colleen Gau find these accusations to be unfounded.
With modern technical advancements came a change in the garment. The invention of elastic in the 1920s created a flexible (and safer) sport corset for women attracted to the new active lifestyle of the roaring twenties. This shift towards a more active lifestyle saw the abandonment of corsets between the 1960s-70s. However, the heavily patriarchal and objectifiable body expectations were still as ever prevalent and were pacified through the exploitation of diets, exercise and plastic surgery.
Early life
Vivienne Westwood was an individual who took great inspiration from looking into the past. Believing that ‘when [she] explore[d] the past, [she] enter[d] the future’. Westwood decided to take inspiration from the corsets of the eighteenth century and reimagine them transforming them from a patriarchal object into an object empowerment. This was achieved through transforming the object into a piece of outerwear rather than underwear. This was not the first time that Westwood had explored with the reversal of roles when it came to garments as evidenced through her 1970s fetish wear at SEX which was the designers King’s Road shop and the epicentre of London’s Punk movement in which she shared with fellow designer Malcom McLaren. Whilst working alongside McLaren the duo released the Mud Bra for The Nostalgia of Mud collection. The garment was greatly controversial as it was designed to be worn over a rough wool tunic top as a piece of outerwear. Despite this controversy Westwood became a pioneer for the underwear as outerwear movement and inspired individuals to make their own risqué garments such as Jean Paul Gaultier’s 1990 Cone Bra for Madonna’s Blonde Ambition tour. (McLaren & Westwood, 1982) (Onessimo, 2023) (Munzenrieder, 2023) (Unknown I, 2023)
Harris Tweed Collection- 1987-88
Westwood’s A/W 87-88 Harris Tweed collection (London, 1987) showcased the debut of the Portrait collection corsets in the Statue of Liberty style. This collection in particular is said to have established Vivienne Westwood as the first twentieth century designer to subvert the patriarchal approaches of the corset. The Statue of Liberty corset was named in order to symbolise the retirement of the oppressive and patriarchal viewpoint around corsetry instead, using the garment as a tool for female empowerment. The Statue of liberty corset referenced nineteenth century corsetry as it featured many different panels. However, instead of being rigid and uncomfortable Westwood used stretch panels and a zip instead of a lace fastening in order to provide a heightened element of comfort to the wearer. The Harris Tweed collection has also been dubbed as the ‘Time Machine’ collection due to Westwood truly redesigning and reinventing both the structure of the corset and the ideology behind it. Many people felt as if the Harris Tweed collection was unusual and nonconformist (as was the majority of Westwood’s designs) as they believed that it not only appropriated traditional British tropes but also, simultaneously, subverted them. In Vivienne Westwood: Catwalk Alexander Fury writes that the collection proved itself to be a ‘milestone […] introducing a number of innovations that now comprise a design canon unmistakably recognisable as [Westwood’s]'. (Hughes, 2023)
The portrait collection- 1990
After creating the Portrait Corsets in her A/W 87-88 collection Westwood then moved on to create the S/S 1990 Portrait Collection. The Portrait Collection (much like the Harris Tweed collection) utilised comfortable and flexible fabric such as lycra in order to provide a more pleasurable experience for the wearer as opposed to the traditional boning techniques previously seen in the eighteenth century. Although Westwood stepped away from certain eighteenth century influences, she was also heavily inspired by others. In this particular circumstance the Portrait Collection was heavily inspired by eighteenth century artwork namely artwork from the Wallace Collection which she would choose to replicate on her corsets. Westwood decided to reproduce Daphis and Chloe (also known as Shepherd Watching a Sleepness Shepherdess) which was painted by François Boucher between 1743 and 1745. Westwood not only printed this piece on her corsets but also on items such as shawls.
The Boucher corset was seen as highly controversial due to the intimate depiction of Daphnis and Chloe from Longus’ original novel. The novel depicts the story of Daphnis and Chloe, individuals who have been abandoned at birth. Both individuals are found (one by a shepherd and another by a goatherd) and end up growing up with one another. Whilst the pair grow up they realise that they both love one another. However, they cannot comprehend their complex romantic feelings. The influence of those around them teach them about kissing and the discomfort of love making which subsequently discourages Daphnis from such activities. As time goes on the pair wind up separated from one another as Chloe is courted by suitors and Daphnis is abducted by pirates. The novel reaches its conclusion with both individuals being rescued and marrying.
The painting by François Boucher (1743) is highly intimate depicting both Daphnis and Chloe together undressed. It is said that this image depicts a sleeping Chloe whilst a voyeuristic Daphnis gazes downward at her exposed naked body. Westwood played with this voyeuristic and intimate composition within her own catwalk collection asking two of her female models to kiss one another on the catwalk. This moment in itself helped to shape and reinvent the male gaze altering the ideology of the corset from constrained patriarchal oppression to a celebration of femininity, sexuality and female agency. Due to this monumental moment in fashion history Boucher corsets are incredibly desirable and collectible with a resale value of over £5,000! (Ibbetson, 2021) (Unknown II, Unknown)
Conclusion
Vivienne Westwood has always been a controversial designer and the controversy of her portrait collection only helped to increase and shape her notoriety. In recent years we have seen notable pop-culture icons such as the Kardashian’s, FKA, Twigs and Megan Thee Stallion wearing archival corsets which resulted in a subsequent reissue of three limited edition corsets in her classic style in 2019. Westwood’s corsets have only continued to grow in popularity with each season introducing more limited-edition corset designs.
Most recently after the passing of Vivienne Westwood. Westwood’s corsets have been placed on display in a corset exhibition which took place in France between the 17th and 30th of April 2023 and London which took place between the 8th and the 21st of May. Alongside this exhibition the fashion house also released an exclusive corset jewellery collection which was available both in boutiques and online. In more recent months WGSN has cited that intimates and punk romance is an upcoming trend featuring fetish inspired bras and Neo Victorian corsets. It seems that Westwood’s pioneering work is continuing to impact the fashion industry to this day leaving a lasting legacy in the place of where an icon once stood. (Lynch, 2023)
Bibliography
Bass- Krueger, Maude & Timms Elle (2021) The corsets recurring comeback goes further than ‘Bridgerton’. Available at: https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/history-of-the-corset (Accessed on: 24.10.23)
Hughes, Natalie (2023) History of the hero: the Vivienne Westwood corset. Available at: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/a41106570/vivienne-westwood-corset/ (Accessed on: 24.10.23)
Ibbetson, Fiona (2021) 1990- Vivienne Westwood, “portrait collection” corset. Available at: https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1990-westwood-corset/ (Accessed on: 24.10.23)
Lynch, Jo (2023) Key trend 2023: Intimates Punk Romance. Available at: https://www.wgsn.com/fashion/article/642beff8c24643aba5b42167 (Accessed on: 24.10.23)
McLaren, Malcolm & Westwood, Vivienne (1982) Mud-bra. Available at: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O84451/mud-bra-mclaren-malcolm/ (Accessed on: 24.10.23)
Munzenrieder, Kyle (2023) Madonna gives a rare peek into her archives. Available at: https://www.wmagazine.com/fashion/madonna-archives-cone-bra#:~:text=While%20Madonna%20wore%20some%20Gaultier,on%20mid%2Dcentury%20bullet%20bras. (Accessed on: 24.10.23)
Onessimo, Gabriella (2023) Vivienne Westwood, sex pistols, and the origins of Punk Fashion. Available at: https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/vivienne-westwood-sex-pistols-punk-fashion-history (Accessed on: 24.10.23)
(Unknown I) (2023) Westwood heritage: corsets. Available at: https://www.viviennewestwood.com/en-gb/westwood-world/heritage/westwood-heritage--corsets/#:~:text=First%20appearing%20in%20the%20Autumn,of%2018th%20century%20salon%20culture (Accessed on: 24.10.23)
(Unknown II) (Unknown) Description- Daphnis and Chloe by François Boucher (1703-1770). Available at: https://wallacelive.wallacecollection.org/eMP/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=65319&viewType=detailView (Accessed on: 24.10.23)
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