Iconic British fashion designer, Vivienne Westwood dies at 81

Dame Vivienne Westwood, the pioneering British fashion designer who played a key role in the punk movement, has died in London at the age of 81.

Westwood died“peacefully, surrounded by her family” in Clapham, south London, on Thursday December 29, her representatives said in a statement.

She had continued to do the things she loved, including designing, working on her book and making art, “up until the last moment”, they added.

Her husband and creative partner, Andreas Kronthaler, said: “I will continue with Vivienne in my heart. We have been working until the end and she has given me plenty of things to get on with. Thank you darling.”

Born in the Derbyshire village of Tintwistle in 1941, Westwood’s family moved to London in 1957, where she attended art school for one term. A self-taught designer with no formal fashion training, Westwood learned how to make clothes as a teenager by following patterns and by taking apart secondhand clothes she found at markets in order to understand the cut and construction.