"The nearest I have come to it [homelessness] is going home and finding I don't have my door key," she said. "I mean, what a disaster that is, dying to get in your house and you can't. And what if it wasn't there any more?"
Insightful words from Vivienne Westwood there on her homeless-inspired menswear collection which made its debut last week at Milan fashion Week. The press release for Westwood’s menswear collection declared: “Perhaps the oddest of heroes to emerge this season, Vivienne Westwood found inspiration in the roving vagrant whose daily get-up is a battle gear for the harsh weather conditions . . . Quilted bombers and snug hoodies also work well in keeping the vagrant warm.”
Let's all take a moment, now, to reflect on that glorious 2001 film Zoolander, Ben Stiller's parody of the fashion world. In it, a character called Mugatu markets a new fragrance: “Let me show you Derelicte,” says Mugatu. “It is a fashion, a way of life inspired by the very homeless, the vagrants, the crack whores that make this wonderful city so unique.” Doesn't this bear more than a smack of similarity to Dame Westwood's new collection (which, by the way, actually has some great individual pieces when you look past such de rigeur accessories as shopping trolleys and sleeping bags)?
Some might feel it's a little too close to the bone in our frosty economic climate. Some might call it tasteless. But surely any year that starts with the suggestion that Zoolander was no exaggeration is a year with definite promise.
One thing's for sure, Vivienne Westwood is a lady never fails to shock.
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