The name Vivienne Westwood is synonymous with iconoclasm, with rebellion, with the subversion of norms and the bold, brash intrusion of punk. The iconic designer died on December 29, 2022 at the age of 81. Her legacy is well known—and well deserved. (If you're unfamiliar, begin educating yourself here.)
But upon hearing the news of her passing, my thoughts didn't immediately turn to SEX, the infamous London boutique she opened in 1971 with Malcom McLaren, the equally infamous manager of the Sex Pistols (who, yeah, she dressed). Nor did I find myself pondering her activist work, her later collections, or her vast and undeniable influence on fashion over the last half a century.
Instead, I found myself thinking of a pearl necklace adorned with Westwood's Orb logo, and how that one necklace exploded the trappings of traditional masculinity for the young men of Gen-Z, leaving in their place a new and exciting approach to fashion that will (hopefully) guide them for years to come. Because even though she's no longer with us, what Dame Vivienne Westwood means for menswear in 2023 is freedom: tradition and tailoring turned on their heads, androgyny and gender decoded and broken down.
The first time that Westwood caught my eye in my adult life was in 2020. It was through thirst-trapping TikTokkers: young, L.A.-based princes with millions of followers ardently sporting pearl necklaces with the iconic Orb charm, which was first designed in 1987. It was an epidemic within a pandemic: cisgender, heterosexual teens and early 20-somethings who had always presented as masculine were suddenly donning single-strand pearls.
Everywhere I went that year, the Westwood pearl necklace was present. Boys paired them with grey sweatpants and white tank tops. Girls, myself included, wore them with everything from dresses to sweaters to button-downs. That necklace in that year was a symbol of being in the know. If people couldn’t afford authentic ones, well, there were entire TikTok series posted on where to buy quality fakes. It was all so cool because it was Vivienne Westwood, sure. It was even cooler because it was a step toward the slightly more genderfluid world of fashion that the present moment fosters, that Westwood has always encouraged.
After the pearl necklaces, microtrend that they were, stopped being front and centre in every influencer’s content, Westwood’s essence lingered in the air. It was as if, suddenly empowered and unafraid, boys were doing more. A pinky nail painted here or there. A long skirt sported, occasionally. Androgyny was seeping into our skin, and Vivienne Westwood was leading the revolution.
It was impossible to miss boys becoming less rigid in their fashion, more prone to wearing necklaces after breaking the initial ice with that pearl Orb chain. As Gen-Z—already dictating shopping cycles and major trends—became acquainted with and accustomed to fashion, Westwood stayed on the tips of many tongues. Men I know who couldn't tell you the difference between a bomber jacket and a racing jacket know her name, recognise her logo, and could maybe even guess if a scrap of tartan fabric belongs to her. From TikTok to Timothée Chalamet, it’s cool for cool guys to twist conventional gender norms in this generation, and it’s in no small part because of her.
With taboos and tradition peeled back, you simply cannot ignore to the effect Vivienne Westwood has had on youth fashion, even now—and the effect that that one pearl necklace has had on the men of Gen-Z. When such a traditionally feminine signifier is suddenly being embraced by the boys, followed in suit by more androgynous silhouettes, textures, colours, and designs…well, it shows us that the future of fashion is malleable and morphable, and is straying from the rules in a very punk way. A very Vivienne Westwood way.
