Vivienne Westwood Dead At 81

The influential fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, a hugely important figure in the British punk explosion of the '70s, has died. According to a statement from her company, Westwood died at home in London today, while surrounded by family. No cause of death has been reported. Westwood was 81.

Vivienne Westwood was born in a Derbyshire village, and she began making her own clothes as a teenager. She dropped out of art school after one term, worked in a factory, and got married and divorced. In 1965, Westwood met future Sex Pistols svengali Malcolm McLaren. They moved in together, had a kid, and co-managed a London boutique called Sex.

Vivienne Westwood designed the clothes that were sold in Sex, which went for a shock-value aesthetic and which became the look of the whole UK punk scene. The Sex Pistols, a band of regulars at the Sex shop, wore clothes that Westwood designed. In the years after that punk explosion, Westwood became a respected icon of the fashion establishment, and she remained hugely important in that world for decades.