(Now Dame) Vivienne Isabel Westwood is a fashion designer and businesswoman, born on 8th April 1941 in Tintwistle, Cheshire, England. She is largely credited for introducing the new wave and modern punk fashion into mainstream haute couture, but is considered to be one of the most unconventional fashion designers in the world.
Have you ever wondered how rich Vivienne Westwood is? According to sources it has been estimated that Westwood’s net worth is over $50 million, as of late 2017, accumulated by creating an iconic name in the fashion industry, through her versatile career which started developing in the 1970s. Since she is still very active in the fashion industry, her net worth continues to increase.
Vivienne Westwood Net Worth $50 Million
Vivienne comes from a working-class family – her father worked as a cobbler and her mother was employed at a cotton mill. When she was a teenager, she moved with her family to Harrow, Middlesex where she found a job in a local factory, but soon enrolled at a teacher training school. Although she had grown-up in industrial surroundings and wasn’t in touch with the artistic or cultural on-goings, Vivienne still managed to develop her hidden talent. In the 1960s, Westwood was employed as a teacher, married and with a child. However, upon meeting Malcolm McLaren, the future manager of the Sex Pistols and an art student, her life started to change and head in a different direction. She started designing, and McLaren opened a boutique in London in 1971, where Vivienne’s designs were sold. It later proved to be a fashion center of the punk movement, especially after McLaren started managing the Sex Pistols, with Westwood dressing the whole band and so helping them in forming their identity and image, as well as her own and her net worth.
Even when the punk movement started to dissolve, Vivienne kept ahead of her time, in dictating fashion. She again headed in a new direction when launching her Pirate collection, and proved to be the trend-setter during the ‘80s and the ‘90s as well. Among other acknowledgements, she has been named British designer of the year three times (in 1990, 1991 and 2006) and received the OBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in 1992. Despite her considerable wealth, Westwood continued to live a normal life in a small South London apartment for many years, using a bicycle instead of a car to move around the city.
When it comes to her private life, Vivienne has married twice. Her first marriage was to Derek Westwood whom she divorced in 1965 after three years of marriage and with whom she has a son. Her second husband is Andreas Kronthaler who she married in 1992; Kronthaler is her former fashion student. After living in a small apartment for 30 years, Westwood was finally convinced by Andreas to move to a house built in the 18th century which once belonged to the mother of Captain Cook. In her free time, Vivienne loves to do gardening.
