VIVIENNE WESTWOOD
SPRING/SUMMER 19 CAMPAIGN

My playing cards are a strategy to save the world, they‘re also a map for my fashion designs.
Part of my philosophy is - if we had culture instead of consumption we would not be in this environmental mess
because we would have a different ethos; and so, my reference for this collection comes from the fact that I‘m
a Taoist and a terrific fan of Chinese art.
We started with the five Taoist elements: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood.
The Chinese peonyprint, and the Chinese dragon - represent the lifeforce of the cosmos.
I made my playing cards into giant prayer flags to give a sandwich board effect for t-shirts and little kilts/ loin
cloths and hand-painted them. And I always try to create a camouflage print for our collections because we are
fighting right now to save the world, and punks love a fight.
We love knitwear, we love graphics and we love DIY - Do it yourself! We chose our cast by the way they put
their own looks together – for example, Jenkin Van Zyl came to the shoot styled as a matador and we kept it.
My best advice is ‘Buy Less, Dress Up‘