Fashion Icons Encyclopedia. Viviane Westwood.

Westwood grew up in a poor family. Everything seemed to point to her becoming one of those women who studies education, marries, teaches in a school, and raises a family.

Nothing could be further from the truth, and after divorcing her first husband, she met Malcom McLaren, the famed group Sex Pistols' musician, producer, and manager. She got her start in punk with him, creating a store at 430 King's Road in the early 1970s that would become the anti-fashion hotspot, and the designer would become a true punk legend.

McLaren and Westwood's relationship and commercial collaboration terminated in 1983. He then made the decision to go it alone with his design. Westwood defies convention in both life and fashion, which is why he reinterprets and appropriates many British icons such as the flag, the fabled Scottish tartan, and his kilts. Westwood is vindictive, provocative – in recent years, the actress Pamela Anderson and the porn performer Colby Keller have been the face of her business – and would address questions where they exist. Furthermore, he manifests it in his own clothing.

Her fashion shows, which are heavily involved with sustainability, serve as platforms for debate, with banners like the one we saw in her spring-summer 2013 collection alluding to climate change or fracking in 2016, or activists like actress Rose McGowan or John Sauven, director Greenpeace executive, on the catwalk.

Its connection to bridal gowns is deserving of its own chapter. She designed the wedding gown worn by Sarah Jessica Parker's character Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City. Miley Cyrus' wedding to actor Liam Hemsworth was also included.