Since the creation of her own label in the seventies, Vivienne Westwood has repeatedly tested the boundaries of experimentation and the development of new innovations in combination with tradition. Forever expanding on the concept of what clothing actually represents and throwing its symbolism into disarray, Vivienne Westwood’s AW14 unisex collection used changing attitudes toward androgyny within the fashion industry in an immensely powerful way. By designing a compilation of designs which focus more on political movements as opposed to conventional distinctions between male and female dress, Westwood makes a powerful stance on the importance of tackling the real issues and denies any prejudice of gender expectations.

The collection is reflective of Westwood’s environmental and political campaigns, with the range featuring anti-fracking illustrations upon a jungle-printed background along with slogans such as ‘What’s good for the planet, is good for the economy, what’s bad for the planet, is bad for the economy’. It encompasses a variety of slouchy designs including naturally vegetable dyed knitwear.

It is exciting to see big name designers celebrating the changing of attitudes and more relaxed boundaries revolving masculine-feminine qualities and using this as a way to excel and tackle actual societal issues, presenting a metaphor for the way in which society can go from strength to strength through visually showcasing how far attitudes have come and the power of change. The celebration of the unisex line is used as a platform to stir and question outlooks upon society. The main focus of the collection is not meant to be that boys are wearing girls’ clothes or girls are wearing boys’ clothes, but instead the political and environmental messages that the actual garments themselves are conveying through celebration that approaches to gender stereotypes are becoming more and more blurred.

Beth Arthurs