For her Milano Moda Uomo Spring Summer '15 collection, my beloved Dame Westwood added another activist cause to her cap. In the past she has rightly sided on action against climate change and fracking, sought justice for Leonard Pelltier and Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning, and she is now championing cruelty-free farming. Her models on the runway sported pig noses and tee shirts that said "MORAL OUTRAGE--wwwfarmsnotfactoires.com." The website is a UK organization against factory farming which causes not only harm to the environment but harm to humans as well. Here in the US, we have similar problems and I personally have stopped eating meat unless it is from a smaller, local farm raising animals in a natural way, feeding them a proper and clean diet without chemicals and anti-biotics, and ending their lives in traditionally humane ways so as not to release panic hormones into their bodies. It is a worthy cause and Dame Westwood has always been about justice and the underdog, but more than that, about simple common sense. If we don't have a planet to live on, the rest is moot.
Many of her models wore make up that hinted at other animals such as dogs and cats, extending the idea of kindness to all animals. Suits were pixellated versions of checks and plaids, and some models wore inflated top hats! The collection featured all the things we have come to expect from and love about a Westwood show: historical silhouettes, asymmetrical cuts, slashed vents, trailing sleeves, high waists, and amazing shoes! And in another bit of political activism, she created a pattern that includes the chilling quote,"The best way to pacify the General Public and keep them complacent is to limit information & then to encourage free and fair discussion within those limits." So true. And so Orwellian.
And as usual, her husband and menswear designer for her brand, Andreas Kronthaler, walked her down the runway. She looked great (she is letting her hair grow back in) in an asymmetrical white gown, dark purple lipstick, and, at age 73, HIGH platform boots!
http://www.viviennewestwood.co.uk/
http://www.farmsnotfactories.org/
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