Vivienne Westwood would like to dress George

APRIL 9, 2011.

Wild, Wild Westwood

The London designer and original queen of punk discusses her Hollywood debut and the best night of her life .

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Dame Vivienne Westwood likes to cook. Somehow, it's hard to picture the designer who's credited with birthing punk fashion and was also longtime companion to the late Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren—slaving over a hot stove in an apron. Yet Ms. Westwood, 70, truly believes in the simplest of pleasures; cooking, reading (not magazines, just books) and cycling through London with her husband and creative director Andreas Kronthaler.

Perhaps the meditative satisfaction culled from these basic joys is what allows Ms. Westwood to conjure up her provocative designs season after season. From her Pirate collection—which stood at the forefront of the New Romantic movement in the early '80s—to her latest collection, entitled World Wide Woman, resplendent in golden glitter, tulle and war paint, she continues to challenge the status quo with her outlandish designs.

Last week, Ms. Westwood opened her first U.S. store; not in New York, but in a freestanding three-story Melrose Avenue boutique in Los Angeles. Splayed across the façade is the designer's signature—in hot pink neon lights, of course. Just after the store's grand opening, where the likes of Christina Hendricks (the new face of Vivienne Westwood jewelry) and Dita Von Teese came to pay tribute, Ms. Westwood discussed rebellion, beef Wellington and Jane Fonda.

In the morning, I practice 15 minutes of yoga.

I very rarely watch my own fashion shows, but the makeup for my Fall 2011 show was just brilliant. Andreas went to the makeup artist and told her, "Make them look like horses." They looked like they came from another planet, it was like this amazing parallel universe.

I call 1970 "The Beginning of the Age of Nostalgia." The hippie movement politicized my generation. When it ended, we all started looking back at our own history, looking, in my case, for motives of rebellion. So Malcolm McLaren and I invented this urban guerilla look. One of Malcolm's slogans was "Rubber Wear for the Office." It really was alternative at the time to take S&M and pornography and turn it into fashion. You can't do that anymore. But, when I look back, it was only a look, and it was just a marketing opportunity.

My favorite book is "À La Recherche du Temps Perdu" by Marcel Proust.

My beauty secret is absolutely no sun.

Now, I don't put any faith in youth. I do to the extent they're always idealistic, but the last lot of them have been brought up to be heavy consumers.

I don't watch television and I rarely go to the cinema, but I recently watched "The King's Speech" on a flight. It was so beautiful and so simple.

I think men are much more insecure than women. In history, women had an awful lot more power and influence, from Greek prostitutes to the women who ran the salons right up until the first World War. I think that feminists have definitely underestimated the role that women have had historically. I think I would be insecure if I were to be a man; there's so much pressure on you.

My favorite hotel is the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles.

I don't know many celebrities I'd like to dress yet—that's the point, really, in setting up shop here in Los Angeles. I loved Pamela Anderson, and now Christina Hendricks. I'd actually really love to dress Jane Fonda. I think the best thing about her—which she apparently still doesn't like—is Hanoi Jane. And George Clooney who is so accessibly nice, and Robert Redford, for trying to make the world a better place.

I love Jean-Antoine Watteau's drawings at the Royal Academy.

We would like to live in Paris. We'd love to get a little apartment; it's quicker to go to Paris from London these days than to go to Oxford.

The signature dish I make at home is beef Wellington.

When I travel I always stay longer than what's required for business, because otherwise I'm not really traveling. After this, we're going somewhere in Texas to do a juice cleanse.

The best way to get exercise is cycling.

The secret to a good marriage is tolerance. Don't expect anything. I'm quite secure in my marriage. I could be wrong; if I am, I don't really care, actually, because I am so committed to this relationship.

The best night of my life was watching the Japanese Noh theater. I've only seen it once, but even saying it now, I think, how can I ever have this experience again? It was so mesmerizing, so complicated and so primordial; I could not believe it. If someone would say to me, "If you like, you can spend the rest of your life here," I would have said "Yes."

—Edited from an interview by Susan Michals

fluffy wrote:Lornadoone, if you haven't seen Vivienne W don't bother!! She's a bit like Tracey Emin who won that award for an unmade bed. Mad scary women! Gee wouldn't go near them, nor would I let him!!! She seems to be sozzled most of the time, but then that could be attributed to her punk lifestyle over the years!