Vive Le Punk

VIVE LE PUNK

Artistic Director and Original Exhibition Concept : Roger K Burton

Curator/Archives and Research : Trever Adams

It is the Chamber of Pop Cultures great honour to present ‘VIVE LE PUNK’ as its exclusive opening exhibition at the Horse Hospital.

This first important retrospective of Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s early work together and collaboration between 1971 – 1980 shows clearly the evolution of their couture Punk clothes. The vast range of influences and complex creation of their garments offer an endless source of fascination to all who love the avant-garde.

Their massive effect on fashion throughout the seventies is still seen today and highly revered by designers the world over and so it seemed fitting to open our new gallery with some of the most exciting designs ever to develop directly from British Pop Culture and retain their credibility for our future prosperity and study.

We hope that you enjoy the fantastic contrast of designs as much as we do. Some twenty years on they still scream for attention, blazing a trail of glory through the history books of pop culture.

Such a comprehensive exhibition could not have been possible without so many dedicated Westwood/McLaren fans and collectors and their amazing generosity in lending treasured possessions. Vivienne and her son Joseph and all the Westwood staff whose help and knowledge was invaluable, and of course Malcolm whose boundless energy and legendary anecdotes put everything into perspective.

Contributors:

The following have kindly loaned items of clothing and photographs to the exhibition

Valerie Allam

Simon Barker Mark Betty

Murray Blewitt Tim Burke

Izabel Burton Joseph Corre

Gerlinda Costif William English

Kate Garner Jeremy Healy

Nellee Hooper Stephen Jones

Ben Kelly Jeanette Lee

Marco Pirroni Philip Salon

Jon Savage Nils Stephenson

Keith Wainwright Contemporary Wardrobe

Vivienne Westwood Simon Withers

Images courtesy of Contemporary Wardrobe