Vivienne Westwood's University of Peace
By Mari Davis
(Photos by Javier Mateo)
PARIS, Mar 12, 2003/ FW/ --- Last Saturday at the Carrousel of the Louvre was a silent cry for
peace as designers like Vivienne Westwood and Paco Rabanne subtly incorporated it in their
collections.
With Westwood, it was masked as the college name, 'University of Peace', while with Paco Rabanne,
the title of the collection, 'Women Peace Heroines' said it all.
But the Queen of Punk was not subtle with her collection. She sent Ohmayrha in a body hugging
catsuit with flames prints. And all of a sudden we were back in the turbulent 1970s when
students were petitioning Nixon to end the Vietnam war.
The collection was not 1970s inspired though. It was just a feeling of the state of
rebelliousness of the youth against the establishment.
The catwalk was a 'closed cafeteria' as implied with the folded chairs and tables. The
students were on the move and ready for action.
Vivienne Westwood's university coeds wore drawstring jumpsuits, pants and shorts.
Shirts were printed with 'Too fast to live, too young to die' with skull and crossbones.
Knee-high boots, leggings and arm warmers were the chosen accessories.
Shirt dresses became flirty with puff sleeves.
And thank goodness PETA, who had been active at Dior and John-Paul Gaultier were not around.
Vivienne Westwood sent leather jackets and fur-lined coats to the runway.
At the end, after the models made their last walk, the University Queen came out with flowers,
another subtle appeal for peace.
And as the music died and Vivienne Westwood took her bow, another prominent figure on the
other side of the Atlantic was making the same plea.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, a Nobel laureate, published an articulate
anti-war message in the New York Times.
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