Vivienne Westwood Quotes

My biggest criticism is how can people be so easily satisfied? Even people with talent.

When I was a little girl you used to learn to sew all the holes in things, darning socks, but nobody mends things anymore.

I always tried to do things by example, even though I was not a very good mother regarding routines and family life.

Everybody looks like clones and the only people you notice are my age. I don't notice anybody unless they look great, and every now and again they do, and they are usually 70.

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.

I think it's important to vote.

You've got to invest in the world, you've got to read, you've got to go to art galleries, you've got to find out the names of plants. You've got to start to love the world and know about the whole genius of the human race. We're amazing people.

Personally I'm not a feminist, as I can't stand puritans.

At one time, I was very angry. I even treated fashion like a kind of crusade: you were either with us or against us, that kind of feeling. Now I know we need ideas, not kicking down a door.

Every time I hear that word, I cringe. Fun! I think it's disgusting; it's just running around. It's not my idea of pleasure.

I was born during the war and grew up in a time of rationing. We didn't have anything. It's influenced the way I look at the world.

If you ask me what I think people should be getting next season, I’ll tell you what I’d like them to buy—nothing. I’d like people to stop buying and buying and buying.

Instead of buying six things, buy one thing that you really like. Don't keep buying just for the sake of it.

What I remember as a child is that other kids didn't care about suffering. I always did.

In Italy they take cheap cloth and make it look expensive, but I take expensive cloth and make it look cheap. They just don't understand.

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.

Art should never be sociological; it has got to be timeless. It's got to be your vision and how you can represent the world you see.

Buy less. Choose well. Make it last. Quality, not quantity. Everybody’s buying far too many clothesI mean, I know I’m lucky, I can just take things and borrow them and I’m just okay, but I hate having too many clothes. And I think that poor people should be even more careful. It doesn't mean therefore you have to just buy anything cheap. Instead of buying six things, buy one thing that you really like. Don't keep buying just for the sake of it.

I design things to help people to hopefully express their personality.

My aim is to make the poor look rich and the rich look poor.

It is not possible for a man to be elegant without a touch of femininity.

There’s this idea that somehow you’ve got to keep changing things, and as often as possible. Maybe if people just decided not to buy anything for a while, they’d get a chance to think about what they wanted; what they really liked.

I eat only vegetables and fruit, and to me it's the most aspirational diet because it's so easy. It's quite simple, the cooking I do.

I like to literally put women on a pedestal

I was a punk before it got its name. I had that hairstyle and purple lipstick.

In history people dressed much better than we do today.

How impossible it is for us to imagine ourselves victims of disaster. We suffer for the poor people who were thrown into the sea from their cruise ship off the coast of Tuscany, some losing their lives. Imagine a world of accelerating natural disasters, one after the other so that nobody can help anyone else.

Buy less, choose well, make it last. Quality rather than quantity: That is true sustainability. If people only bought beautiful things rather than rubbish, we wouldn't have climate change!

My fashion advice is to have a flattering mirror and then forget about it.

If you wear clothes that don't suit you, you're a fashion victim. You have to wear clothes that make you look better.

The young need discipline and a full bookcase.

Save the rainforest for your loved ones

If you see everything from the point of view of women being victims in some way, you don't see the wood for the trees. It is better to be a person than a woman.

Nothing is costed properly and it's destroying the earth. We need to re-educate people that what is good for the planet is good for the financial system.

I do not approve of museums trying just to get people to come in. Whistler was very, very clear on this.

There is no hierarchy of values any more. Real progress is due mainly to human genius, and that's rare, and usually stems from a real elite, from a hierarchy.

I was so upset with what was going on in the world. I just couldn't stand the idea of being people tortured and that we even had such a thing as war. I hated the older generation, who had not done anything about it. Punk was a call-to-arms for me.