Vivienne Westwood and the homage of Andreas Khronthaler

The press note of the Vivienne Westwood Fall Winter 2023 2024 show is a love letter from Andreas Khrontaler to his recently deceased wife and creator of the brand Vivienne Westwood . A river of intimate and professional memories that intertwine, from music to fabrics found together, dear objects and habits of married life.

Vivienne Westwood still seems among us, her legacy, which will be carried on by Andreas, is here in the audience (also including singer Halsey, Jared Leto, Georgia May Jagger, Julia Fox and designer Jean Paul Gaultier) and her image opens the show, with a model wearing a top with her photo printed on it, dangling earrings, a miniskirt, a kilt and the inevitable platform shoes, the wedge shoes so loved by the designer.

Bustier dresses with dizzying slits, see-through sweaters, large oversized jackets for suits and puffer jackets, both for him and for her, and in an instant you feel you are on the King's Road, in the historic World's End store. There are men dressed as women and women dressed as men, hair jewels in the shape of crystal-encrusted devil horns, crinoline skirts, floral and brocade prints and gypsy-style patchwork fabrics. Big bows and tartans can't be missing, shirts with maxi jabot collars and cuissardes boots. The show ends with a bridal-lingerie look with a bouquet of flowers and Andreas himself, who visibly moved (he goes out without her by his side for the second time) enters the scene dressed in a kilt, a maxi shawl from which a black shirt peeks out studded with sequins. A veil of general emotion and an indelible memory.

Photo courtesy of Vivienne Westwood.

TINTTWISTLE

I miss you

So many questions

I understand you much more now

I found the scarf we were looking for

I'm reading the books you used to read

I'll play the music we've heard together so many times

Keeping you on my knees is all I want right now

And caress your face with my nose

What happened is what I needed

You were my reason and everything I did I did for you

You liked skateboarders and cycling and wanted to get rid of the car and use public transport as before

You are so cool, so cool my dear

When you petted an animal or watered the plants or teased me, it was all the same to you

Autumn begins unnoticed. The nights slowly lengthen,

And, little by little, the clear winds grow colder, the heat of summer fades.

My thatched hut is still growing. At the bottom of the stairs, in the middle of the grass, the bright dew glitters.

Meng Hao-Jan (689-740 AD)

In everything we're going to show, I've been thinking about you and where you came from, the North of England

The "masturbation skirt", remember?

It was a long time ago. How we laughed when we created it.

I worked on it again.

The petticoat skirts that used to be your absolute favorite.

I made some for you, all different, so bright, so beautiful, so feminine, so feminine, truly feminine.

I have used some of our antique fabrics that we had collected to give them a new life, I hope you don't mind.

You once told me that I could take everything from you, but to leave your platform shoes, because you can't do without them.

Perhaps the most important thing you ever taught me is to put women on a pedestal.

Andreas Kronthaler, March 2023 Paris