Dame Vivienne Westwood is an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream.

Westwood came to public notice when she made clothes for Malcolm McLaren's boutique in the King's Road, which became famous as SEX. It was their ability to synthesise clothing and music that shaped the 70s punk scene, dominated by McLaren's band, the Sex Pistols. She was deeply inspired by the shock value of punk.

Westwood went on to open five shops, selling an increasingly varied range of merchandise, some of it linked to her many political causes such as CND and the civil rights group Liberty.

Vivienne Westwood is dedicated to sustainability, environmental awareness and social responsibility and recently collaborated with The Ethical Fashion Programme to produce a collection of handbags in that were handmade in Nairobi, Kenya. Using recycled materials from roadside advertisement banners and safari tents, each of the three designs were handcrafted by marginalised communities of women such as single mothers, widows, HIV/AIDS victims and those living in extreme poverty. The range provided jobs and livelihoods to more than 7,000 people (mainly women) living in Kenya. Vivienne Westwood is also directly involved with the charity Cool Earth and their bid to save the rainforest nofunbeingextinct.org.

For more details please visit http://www.viviennewestwood.co.uk/.