My first job in New York was at an office across the street from the old Barneys on Seventh Avenue.  On lunch breaks, when particularly inspired, I’d head over to the the third floor and try on pieces from the Vivienne Westwood racks, a diversion which always left me feeling as if I were more adventurous, eccentric, and avant-garde than I actually was.  Seeing the small exhibit at The Museum at FIT “Vivienne Westwood, 1980-1989,” reminded me of all the things that made me fall in love with her clothes: the sense of history, the rich embellishments, and the endlessly inventive cutting and draping.

The exhibit also brought home how closely linked her clothing (from this period particularly) was to contemporary music, video and graphic design.  Vivienne was never a lonely artist channeling a pristine vision.  She drew energy from the streets of London and from her punkish cohorts, and in the videos of her runway collections on display at the show there’s a real sense of performance and play.  Her clothing, years later, still has the same happy, crafted, bohemian energy.  It’s clothing as theater.