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Queen of punk fashion Vivienne Westwood turns 75

Silke Wünsch / dbApril 8, 2016

Cult designer Vivienne Westwood invented punk fashion and turned it into haute couture. She celebrates her 75th birthday on April 8 - and she's still as subversive as ever.

https://p.dw.com/p/1ISC8
Vivienne Westwood Copyright: picture-alliance/dpa/CTK/M. Sterba
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/CTK/M. Sterba

When punk became fashionable, Vivienne Westwood took her farewell from the movement - and chose a new stage for her provocative statements. Her Pirate Collection featuring models in pirate costumes conquered the runway in 1981.

It was Westwood's entrance ticket to the world of fashion, the start of a steep career. Today, the British designer is recognized as one of the most important fashion designers of the 20th century. It's not what she would have expected back in the early 1970s, when she started tearing holes in fishnet stockings in a rundown shop on London's King's Street.