Andreas Kronthaler: «Vivienne Westwood was a courageous heroine»
Student, and then-husband of Vivienne Westwood, the artistic director of the British brand talks about the couple's relationship with art and Queen Viv's legacy.
He chooses his words carefully, he willingly stops to think before answering, he treats you with a kindness that is never fashionable. Andreas Kronthaler , an Austrian with initial training as a goldsmith, met Vivienne Westwood in 1988 at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna where he studied industrial design and she taught. A meeting that led him the following year to join her in London and in 1992 to marry her, after the 1991 spring summer collection, Cut & Slash, had marked the beginning of their artistic collaboration, interrupted only by Dame Viv's death in December of 2022. Today Kronthaler remains the artistic director of the brand which continues in the iconoclastic sign of the founder. A brand much loved also by the new generations on the eve of a series of international events, including "Vivienne Westwood: The Personal Collection" a Christie's auction of 272 lots from Vivienne Westwood's personal wardrobe which will be offered in a live auction (Part I) on June 25, with a concurrent online sale (Part II) from June 14 to 28. A brand where the relationship with art faithfully reflects the passion that Andreas shared with his wife.
L'OFFICIEL: How you live art on a personal level?
ANDREAS KRONTHALER: I struggle to talk about it, there are people who certainly know much more than me, let's say that art for me is something essential and I couldn't do without it.
LO: Is he a daily presence?
AK: I try to dedicate as much time as possible to art. I've just been to an exhibition in London at the Courtauld Institute. It's “Frank Auerbach: The Charcoal Heads” (open until May 27, ed.) and I found the way he portrayed his friends in charcoal incredible.
LO: Is there any artist or period that you love in particular?
AK: Difficult to answer, perhaps I prefer painting, especially oil painting, and from all eras. There are some really lucky days when you look at something and it gets inside you, it touches you. Sometimes, however, during a visit you pass by us without paying attention. But even in that case, it is always good to spend time in a museum or a gallery, because they are silent places, where it is easier to calm down, to get in touch with yourself.
«The historian Janet Arnold published the book “Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd” in the 1980s, which was truly seminal for us » .
LO: How much does art influence the Vivienne Westwood universe?
AK: Many of the collections were inspired by the 18th century, a fundamental period in many respects and much loved by Vivienne. The corset is nothing more than a revisitation of the eighteenth-century ones, made current by the stretch inserts on the hips. She invented the first one in the 1980s. There have also often been references to the Elizabethan period. Thanks to the portraiture of the time, the historian Janet Arnold published a book at the end of the 1980s, “Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd”, which was truly seminal for us.
LO: Are there strong references to art in the next winter collection too?
AK: That's right. I was in Milan and I visited the exhibition dedicated to Giovan Battista Moroni, a Renaissance painter who I had already met in the past in London, given that his famous "Tailor" is exhibited at the National Gallery. At the time, I had copied the model, later made in leather, but in I had forgotten about it in the meantime. Finding myself in front of Moroni, the mood of the season clicked. Until that moment I had been doubtful about how to develop it, suddenly I understood that I had to return to the theme that arose from his works, but with a different approach. Moroni was very important for how he dared to paint, he first, normal people and not just kings and queens.
LO: Speaking of daring, what meaning do you attribute to this word so similar to Westwood's aesthetics?
AK: Maybe today it's not so much about how you look, but how you approach life. Everything is so different compared to twenty years ago, people meet on social media, not face to face, we move on just other levels. Today I pay a lot of attention to those who remain faithful to what they believe in.
LO: Did you have any habits related to the art world with Vivienne?
AK : We often went to museums and she was slow, she stopped for a long time to study what was in front of her. I, on the other hand, was much faster, and at the end of the visit, we found ourselves at compare what we had seen. She always asked: “What work would you save if a fire broke out?”
LO: Yours was an extraordinary relationship. What do you think you gave her, most of all?
AK: Vivienne said she really appreciated my point of view, the unusual way I looked at things, she even defined it as original and I can say the same about her. She approached a topic from a completely different perspective, we were complementary, in many respects she was my opposite. At work she tended to add layers, until she decided what to do. On the contrary, I do subtractions to get to the essence: if you meet halfway, the relationship is very fulfilling.
LO: What is the greatest legacy she left you?
AK: I would say her motto: buy less, choose well, make it last a long time. There is all of her being an activist and a stylist there.
«Vivienne was a courageous heroine. People perceive how much it wasn't scared in making his voice heard . "
LO: Don't you feel disheartened in carrying on Vivienne's battles for the environment and human rights in such a complex and dark international context?
AK: Honestly, yes, but I feel I have to move forward, become aware of the situation and not ignore it. We must feel what is around us, filter it and do our part as much as possible.
LO: Why do young people love Vivienne Westwood so much?
AK: Vivienne was a courageous heroine. People sense how she wasn't afraid to make her voice heard, she said what she thought.
LO: What message could your figure give to the new generations?
AK: You always talked about the importance of learning from history. She could go back centuries or even millennia and drew great inspiration from it. It's just like she said: what you put in is what you get out.
LO: How do you see the future of the brand?
AK: Various activities are about to start, but here I would like to anticipate the exhibition dedicated to our jewellery collections which we will present in the autumn in Shanghai and Macau, and then arrive in Europe in 2025.
LO: Returning to art, do you like to attend the Venice Biennale?
AK: I have a very strong connection with that event, I was 16 years old and a friend and I decided to visit it. It was my first trip, I have no precise memories other than the moment in which, in the central pavilion, I entered the room dedicated to Brancusi. I didn't know anything about him, his sculptures totally changed my life. And then Venice is so incredible, the perfect place to present art. I was there recently and I have a tip to share with readers.
LO: Where do you recommend we go?
AK: Don't miss the six incredible sixteenth-century paintings by Carpaccio at the Scuola Dalmata in the Castello district, between Piazza San Marco and the Biennale Gardens.
