VIVIENNE WESTWOOD,
'VOYAGE TO CYTHERA' COLLECTION, AUTUMN-WINTER 1989⁄90;
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD, 'PAGAN V' COLLECTION, SPRING-SUMMER 1990

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Voyage To CytheraThe collection was named after a 1717 painting of the same name by Jean-Antoine Watteau, also known as The Embarkation to Cythera, in the collection of The Louvre, Paris. Cythera was the birthplace of Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, and marks the first time Vivienne Westwood turned to this artist for inspiration. Westwood drew on other works by Watteau, notably his numerous depictions of the harlequin from the Italian Commedia dell’arte. The patterns were used across bodysuits, corsets, mini-crinis and tailoring.In emulating the nudity of statues, Westwood alighted on a witty modern method: she dressed her models in flesh-coloured stretch Lycra leggings and bodysuits with strategically placed mirrored appliqués in the shape of fig leaves. Westwood’s aim was to poke fun not at the morals of the past, but to highlight contemporary puritan attitudes to nudity. Her ‘nudes’ were semi-clothed, wearing corsets or tailored jackets. As Alexander Fury says: ‘Westwood offered her fig leaves for men and women’ (see lot 53, comparative image).

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD, 'VOYAGE TO CYTHERA' COLLECTION, AUTUMN-WINTER 1989 / 90; VIVIENNE WESTWOOD, 'PAGAN V' COLLECTION, SPRING-SUMMER 1990

A PINK FLOCK VELVET CORSET BODICE AND FLORAL CHIFFON BLOUSE

Details

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD,
'VOYAGE TO CYTHERA' COLLECTION, AUTUMN-WINTER 1989 / 90;
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD, 'PAGAN V' COLLECTION, SPRING-SUMMER 1990
A PINK FLOCK VELVET CORSET BODICE AND FLORAL CHIFFON BLOUSE
The corset boned to the front in the 18th century style; the cream chiffon blouse printed with knots of flowers, Gold Label

Further details

The Estate of Vivienne Westwood will donate 100% of the total hammer proceeds received for the sale of her personal wardrobe, less auction expenses, to be split equally between The Vivienne Foundation, Médecins Sans Frontières (a charity registered in England and Wales with charity number 1026588) and Amnesty International (registered in England and Wales with charity number 1051681).

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Adrian Hume-Sayer Director, Specialist

Lot Essay

This is the first appearance in Vivienne’s wardrobe of one of her iconic staples - the corset. She is known to have studied extant period corsets in great detail in museum collections. Her innovations were to replace the whalebone or metal stays with flexible plastic and to replace linen with stretch lycra. She loved what wearing a corset did to the female form. ‘And this corset we made: it is really, really sexy. Low-cut. That it was pushing – that’s what those corsets did, they pushed the breasts up. And people just loved it. Three sizes were all we ever needed. It was adored a real wave-the-flag moment of euphoria’…‘Stretch fabric changes everything- hence the name, Stature of Liberty. It gave breasts back a look they hadn’t had in generations. And I loved that it was taken up everywhere else – Gaultier in particular. I loved what he did, it was brilliant’ (V. Westwood and I. Kelly, Vivienne Westwood, London, 2014, p. 295). ‘Old world culture and historical costuming reimagined for the modern woman and man’ as Ian Kelly wrote (ibid. p.146).

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