Fans of Vivienne Westwood’s avant-garde take on the British tradition can now dress their walls in some of her signature prints. The doyenne of British fashion has teamed up with Cole & Son, another, less rebellious, icon of the British creative scene, to create an extensive range of wallpapers designed by Westwood, inspired by some of her most recognized fashion collections.
See Vivienne Westwood’s range of papers for Cole & Son
Fashion designers renowned for their prints have jumped from the catwalk to the wall before Westwood, mistakenly assuming that a flat surface is just as good a canvas as a body for their art. Westwood’s range, for all the rebellious attitude of her fashion collections, is surprisingly demure and the majority of her prints translate beautifully from body to wall.
Notable highlights are the ones she’s drawn herself: ‘Vivienne’s Lace’, from her S/S 07 ‘I am Expensiv’ collection; the ‘Trompe l’oeil Drape’, from the A/W 94 ‘Anglomania’ collection; and her hand-drawn dogtooth particularly. And though you’d have to be a bit braver to commit a wall of your home to her Squiggles or Tartan, seeing each of the designs in a 2-dimensional form makes you appreciate that punk-inspired rebellion is only part of Dame Vivienne’s repertoire - she’s an exceptional print designer too.
’Absence of Rose’ a print that first appeared in a recent collection of Westwood’s knitwear
’Insects’ inspired by Elizabeth I’s wardrobe
’Paper jewellery’, inspired by the jewellery from Westwood’s A/W 01 collection, made entirely from paper, based on technical drawings of royal jewwls
’Shirting’ is a design where Westwood references traditional city gent shirt stripes
’Squiggle’ - taken from Westwood’s A/W 82 Pirate collection
’Cut-out Lace’ from the S/S 07 ’I am Expensiv’ collection
’Magnolia’ was inspired by a paper cut-out design, executed in a very small scale, then used as a print on silk and wool in subsequent fashion collections
’Dogtooth’ - a traditional British pattern, hand-drawn by Westwood
’Dogtooth’ - a traditional British pattern, hand-drawn by Westwood
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