Vivienne Westwood, Design Hero—An identity reimagining the history, philosophy, and work of a fashion revolutionary.
Timeline
3 months
Role
Print, Motion, Mobile App
For
Vivienne Westwood
PROVOCATIVE, INTELLECTUAL, AND UTTERLY ICONIC.
Vivienne Westwood's Legacy
Westwood ignited the punk movement in the 70s with bondage trousers and ripped DIY styling—an embrace of subversion. Mastering historical silhouettes, she also revived corsetry inspired by art and antiquity. Her tartan and pearl-adorned influence still shapes fashion today, proving rebellion is timeless.
MY ROLE
Honoring Westwood in my visual language
After thorough research and careful organizing of Westwood's work, this project includes an animation, poster, booklet, and mobile app experience. I found a way to both represent Westwood's life and work while also preserving my personal aesthetic by taking advantage of our shared love of pattern and grunge.
ASSET A: ANIMATION
Frame-by-frame digital animation.
ASSET B: POSTER
Safety Pin Type, Maximalist Collage
Safety pins became the reference point for this project given its symbolism—it was an important part of punk clothing, and although it was sharp and hard it affords quite organic and elegant values when stretched and bent past rigidity.
There’s a push and pull between elegance/regality (for the circular frame I referenced the Queen’s royal stamps) and anarchy, since Westwood was known for taking royal, structured historical motifs and subverting them in her own grunge style.
ASSET c: BOOKLET
I designed a 20-page booklet with a self-written essay detailing Westwood's life and career trajectory, as well as her continued legacy.
Her collections and photos are used throughout the book to both emphasize specific pieces as well as to show its breadth, telling a chronological story of her life and the aesthetics she established.
As a reader interacts with the cover, they are first met with an open safety pin in a V-shaped state. As you meet the safety pin on the back cover, the pins come together to form a W—Vivienne Westwood's intials.
ASSET D: APP
An interactive app where users enter the Westwoorld. Features include a biography, gallery section with captioned images and Westwood designs on celebrities today, a list of books and documentaries, Westwood locations around the world, and a link to the current official website.
LEARNING MOMENTS
Who am I , design philosophies, trying new things.
It was quite challenging figuring out where my touch as a designer fit when the goal was to emulate Westwood's aesthetic, but by staying true to the source material, the existing punk rock-ness and elegance of her story led the way. Along the way, I was able to really resonate with Westwood's philosophy of innovating by understanding history—design is at its best when it's imbued with history, culture, and intention.
Especially with the video aspect of this project, I challenged myself to try a lot of new things technique-wise—mixing frame-by-frame animation with After Effects software, adding and layering texture, and making both curated runway footage and static image come to life on the screen.
The amount of research and understanding necessary to complete this project successfully will stay with me for all of the projects to come.