Vivienne Westwood's Use of Tartan

Vivienne Westwood is famous for her witty re-interpretations of historical dress and textiles. She is a great fan of British fabrics and crafts. She has used traditional Scottish tartans for many years - from bondage trousers to tailored suits. She even designed her own tartan for her Anglomania collection, Autumn / Winter 1993/4, made by Lochcarron. It was named MacAndreas after her husband Andreas Kronthaler.




Vivienne Westwood 2007 F/F

Colour: shades and meaning
The shades of colour in tartan can be altered to produce variations of the same tartan. The resulting variations are termed: modern, ancient, and muted. These terms refer to colour only.

• Modern represents a tartan that is coloured using chemical dye, as opposed to natural dye. In the mid-19th century natural dyes began to be replaced by chemical dyes which were easier to use and were more economic for the booming tartan industry. Chemical dyes tended to produce a very strong, dark colour compared to the natural dyes. In modern colours, setts made up of blue, black and green tend be obscured.
  
  
• Ancient refers to a lighter shade of tartan. This shade is supposed to represent the colours that would be obtained by using natural dyes such as Yellow, orange, blue, red, green, brown and grey.
  
  
  
  
• Muted refers to tartan which is shade between modern and ancient. This type of tartan is very modern, dating only from the early 1970s. This shade is said to be the closest match to the shades attained by natural dyes used before the mid-19th century

Tartan made a resurgence in its use in Punk Fashion . In the late 1970s punk music was a way for youth in the British Isles to voice their discontent with the ruling class.

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  The idea that the various colours used in tartan have a specific meaning is purely a modern one. One such myth is that red tartans were "battle tartans", designed so they would not show blood.

colorful eye!

Melrose ( hot pink ), Sunrise ( bright yellow ), L.A Sunset ( tangerine ) and Rodeo Drive ( purple )- four shades of pure “oh la la”

All perfectly hued to satisfy Fall’s trend of an uber bright, colorful eye!

What brilliant color inspiration!

As if this orange coat isn’t fabulous enough on the outside check out the lining details.

The bias stripe binding is gorgeous in the lining seam and the two tone purple detail at the waistline is just perfect. It makes it hard to decide if I like it better on or off.

Punk fashion

Current factions of the punk subculture have different clothing habits, although there's often crossover between the different subgroups in terms of style.

• Black and While , these two monochromatic colours domintes in Punk which presents the Rbellion, Mssy, Transgressio, violence etc. Black is the predominant shade.


• Bright , high hue and value colours are also inevitable in the Punk Fashion, such as red, blue, green, pink or orange are typically dyed to hair and arranged into a mohawk or liberty spikes.

However, there is more than less difference between various styles of Punk Culture.

• Hardcore Punk

Mute colors and minimal adornment are usually common

Cargo or military shorts, khakis or cargo pants

• Pop punk

Popular patterns include checkers and arms
Back, platinum blonde

New Wave fashions

• A conscious reaction to the hippie styles of the 1960s
  Another aspect was a desire to embrace contemporary synthetic materials as a protest and celebration of plastic .

• This involved the use of spandex, bright colors (such as fluorescents), and mass-produced, tawdry jewelry and ornaments.

Dame Vivienne Westwood, is an English Fashion Designer, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream.

• The original punk fashions of the 1970s were intended to appear as confrontational, shocking and rebellious as possible. This style of punk dress was significantly different from what would later be considered the basic punk look.
  



• British punk fashion included: Arnarchy symbols; brightly-colored or white and black dress shirts randomly covered in slogans (such as "Only Anarchists are pretty"); fake blood; patches; and deliberately controversial images were popular. Leather rocker jackets and customised blazers were early, and are still a common fixture of punk fashion.



• New Wave fashions were a conscious reaction to the hippies styles of the 1960s, which had spilled over into the mainstream by the late 1970s. This involved the use of spandex, bright colors (such as fluorescents), and mass-produced, tawdry jewelry and ornaments. New Wave incorporated various influences such as the rock 'n' roll styles of the pre-hippie era, disco, funk, etc.

Contrasting Scheme: Triad

Contrasting Scheme: Double Split complementary

The colors chose under the same color scheme but in the hue plays in different values or intensity

The color summary of Vivenne Westwood Spring 07 (RTW)

The plum in color, slightly reddish purple, and the sunny yellow skirt or blue corset, all these fairy and fancy colors plays lively under contrasting color scheme. This is the funky and untraditional version of fairy tale how Vivienne Westwood performed her 2007 Spring RTW collection with the theme “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”.
Applying the contrast scheme of color formulae stepping up the volume silhouette; however the full collection is both under the same color family in the same scheme. By using color in the same color family, generates the harmony of the whole collection which wisely strike a balance. Bright colors in high intensity present the lively side of the fairytale while rich mosses and purples in low value hues resembled the wicked step-mother. Pure white quintessentially present the character Snow White.