Dame Vivienne Westwood, the subject of “Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist,” is a highly successful British fashion designer whose career now stretches back nearly a half-century. But for many people who might be drawn to Lorna Tucker’s documentary about her, she’s mainly known for being one of the brains behind the punk rock movement of the ‘70s, along with her then-boyfriend, Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren.
Viewers who might look to the film for a detailed examination of that seminal moment in pop culture, be advised: Westwood doesn’t share your interest, not in the least. During the documentary’s making, she sat for a long interview at London’s Groucho Club, and she’s a very good interview subject—except when she’s not. Asked about the birth of punk and the Sex Pistols, she indicates she’d rather not talk about it, groaning, “It’s so boring.” After one derisory comment about Johnny Rotten, she clams up. The whole subject occupies maybe three minutes of the 90-minute film....
Most of the film that Tucker crafts chronicles Westwood’s career as a fashion designer and entrepreneur. Style-wise, she never stopped evolving and was always aggressively iconoclastic and provocative, even if such stances sometimes came to seem de rigueur. While at times her creations were seen as bizarrely outlandish, as illustrated in a clip from an early-‘80s TV appearance where the audience shouted derision at her models, her taste, persistence and hard work eventually prevailed, leaving her as one of the most honored of British designers.
As a businesswoman, she has proved equally determined and successful. We see enough of the behind-the-scenes operations of her company to perceive that she’s a tough and canny boss, though one who probably isn’t a breeze to work for. Her skills in this department, though, has left her as the only major fashion designer who still owns her own company.
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