When I hear the name Vivienne Westwood, my mind immediately goes to the Sex Pistols, avant-garde, safety pins and leather. Even though she has evolved from her punk rock days, Vivienne’s looks are still as shocking as ever. Her amazing designs can only be worn by the few lucky enough to pull off these new wave looks. For the all-appreciating Vivienne fan, like myself, she serves as a style icon and great influence. Bringing looks like this from Vivienne Westwood’s fall/winter 2014 show into your everyday wear can simply be made a reality.
In one particular runway look, the dark color palette and a ginormous top hat became my main inspirations. I know for a fact that I wouldn’t be able to pull off this black on black layered look, let alone that hat walking around campus. Translating it to streetwear was essential. As the owner of a wardrobe consisting of pretty much strictly black clothing pieces, recreating this look was a cinch. I grabbed my favorite pair of black denim jeans, black band T-shirt (inspired by Vivienne’s punk rock fashion days) and my favorite leopard flats for a pop of pattern and depth.
Now, when it came to the whole hat situation, I knew I had to tone it down just a little in order to stay somewhat in the constraints of society as far as a college campus goes. Going through my semi-limited hat collection of floppy wool wide-brimmed hats, I was torn. Suddenly, I stumbled upon this old red faded baseball cap I found in my family’s garage a while back and knew that this was the perfect piece to complete the runway look I wanted to bring to life. It was at this point that the color palette came full circle. From the all-black jeans and T-shirt—like Vivienne’s black on black look—and now faded red hat, matching the model’s makeup, I was in complete disbelief that I successfully recreated a streetwear version of this Vivienne Westwood look.
Bringing your very favorite runway looks to life doesn’t mean having a million dollars in the bank or being on the guest list to a red carpet event. The basic ideas of these sought after looks can be translated into your everyday ensemble with pieces you probably already own. From couture to ready-to-wear, being able to draw inspiration from everywhere and using that to then express your own style is what being a Fashionista/o is truly about.
Get My Look: 1. A classic pair of black denim jeans. 2. A rad baseball cap. 3. The perfect band T-shirt.
