Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood RTW Spring 2024
In honor of his life partner and collaborator Vivienne Westwood, who passed away last year, Andreas Kronthaler revisited and reworked some of the most iconic pieces they codesigned over the years for spring 2024.
Based on the archive he built around Westwood’s private wardrobe, the collection offers the rare opportunity for die-hard fans to collect iconic pieces they wish they had procured, such as the inferno jacket from the fall 2005 collection “Exhibition,” the pink check cape from the spring 2014 collection “Everything Is Connected,” the giant floor-length jacquard bow hat from the fall 2009 collection, and the moire bridal gown with exaggerated corset design from the spring 2012 collection “War & Peace,” worn by Westwood’s granddaughter Cora Corré to close the show.
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“I thought what I did was appropriate. I didn’t feel like I should go too far. I didn’t want to do a fashion show in the classic sense with showpieces and fantasy. I wanted to base it on the clothes I archived from her private wardrobe, which was quite an emotional journey,” he said.
“When I was shooting them, I felt this has to be the next collection, somehow the base of it. I didn’t know how to do it. And then I thought, ‘OK, I’m just gonna put the numbers in a hat’ and I picked 34, which is the years I’ve been together with her,” the designer explained backstage.
In a season where many designers went for the most commercially viable pieces in the archive, Kronthaler offered a different approach. It showed a broad range within the context of punk, global influence, and subverting the British social dress codes and gender identity. Even though on paper it is a greatest-hits remix, it felt as fresh and genuine as if it were brand-new.
Kronthaler humbly said the brand is “99 percent her,” but the truth is that he is just as important in the success of the brand as Westwood’s legacy. His love for her, and his encyclopedic knowledge of the brand is what keeps Vivienne Westwood alive as a business.
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Launch Gallery: Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood RTW Spring 2024
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