Vivienne Westwood

PARIS, October 3, 2006 – Vivienne Westwood isn't about to relinquish her role as English 

fashion's resident provocateur. If today's graffiti print combining "Free Leonard Peltier" and

"i'm expensiv" (sic) scribbles raises a few eyebrows, so be it. (Ditto for the doodles of the  male anatomy that she used for a cape and a sheath.) And if the collection—which ranged from  

a black skirt suit, draped and tucked at oddly graceful angles, to a remarkably simple, subtly  

bejeweled blue-velvet bustier dress—wasn't a huge step forward, well, that's not really  

why people keep coming back. 

It's the sheer audacity of the spectacle that intrigues. Snow White stomped down the runway  

in a purple-and-blue bustier top and yellow ball skirt straight out of the Disney book, but for  

a few extra inches of cleavage. One of Westwood's favorite models from back in the day,  

Sara Stockbridge, also made a memorable appearance. If she wasn't smoking a cigarette,

she was vamping for photographers, who haven't seen such antics in ages. What of the  

clothes? Piece by piece, there were some beauties, like a loden green nipped-waist jacket

or a deep purple strapless taffeta ball gown with striped lining. But, for all their intricacies,

they almost came off as afterthoughts.  

... and Designer, Vivienne Westwood.