Vivienne Westwood's Fashion Show Theme: Politicians R Criminals
Models backstage ahead of the Vivienne Westwood Red Label show during London Fashion Week. Photo: Getty Images
By Nina Jones
“We’re trying to tell everyone the end of the world is here. I don’t know if we’ve got through yet,” mused Vivienne Westwood backstage after her spring Red Label show in London Sunday. To telegraph that message, Westwood had protesters hand out leaflets ahead of the show, which proclaimed that “Politicians R Criminals.” Their crimes, as Westwood sees it, include creating poverty and causing climate change. She also assembled a tableau of protesters at the beginning of the show, who carried placards saying “Austerity is a Crime,” and “Fracking is a Crime.”
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But one politician does escape Westwood’s ire – Jeremy Corbyn, the newly elected, left-wing leader of Britain’s Labour party. “I know Jeremy Corbyn…he’s great, he’s absolutely fantastic,” said Westwood. “He’s one of the only few sane politicians,” she said, also mentioning Caroline Lucas, a politician for the U.K’s environmentally focused Green Party. Of Corbyn – whose socialist agenda has been getting a hard time in Britain’s press, and who was initially seen as an outsider for the Labour leadership role – Westwood said his win shows “how the press don’t reflect public opinion.” “[The press] all pretended he was totally unimportant, whereas he’s got all this mass of support, and they keep pretending he hasn’t got this support,” she said.
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As for Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron and U.S. president Barack Obama, Westwood pronounced them “totally criminal.” “They’re supporting the status quo, which is killing us,” she said.
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