While the Vivienne Westwood team’s spring 2026 collection was shot in a house close to the Champs-Élysées, captured in its light-filled chambres and wild garden, it was just down the road at Christie’s auction house in London where inspiration first took root. There, the late Dame Vivienne Westwood’s wardrobe was on display for auction: her fall 1983 Witches collection, a corduroy suit she wore for decades, Yorkshire tweeds, 18th century samplers. This set the scene for designs made for traversing the English moors, discovering the dark and decay amid the vegetation.
Rococo-style suiting, the impeccably tailored Bettina jacket, mini-skirts, and shorts that recall the Cafe Society collection were remixed in treated denims, windswept silks, and undyed, organic fabrics, with a rumpled and ragtag feel—like a tumble taken in the Garden of Eden. The ever-popular Sunday dress was made in crinkled gauze, and there was a spectrum of kilts in classic and high-octane colored tartans. Soft, airy knitwear sets featured a new take on the ‘Paradise’ print by artist and frequent collaborator Dominic Myatt, depicting a trash-filled, tarnished utopia—a tribute to Westwood’s climate activism and the brand’s continued eco ethos.
Nods to recent runway pieces from Andreas Kronthaler confirmed a growing sense of fluidity for the house, from A.K. to bridal (though, would you believe, the brand’s first-ever bridal-focused show only took place in April 2025?). In the mix were a bag-waisted pair of pants for both men and women, a diaphanous, inky-print jumpsuit, and sequin and trussed-up taffeta evening gowns. The Westwood lens on sportier sensibilities—including a pair of playful, visor-like sunglasses—and a deeper offering of the house’s classic tailoring reflected the wants of a younger audience who have become enamored with Vivienne Westwood through Depop dives and Bella Hadid. The brand has garnered increasing interest from young men, especially, looking for those slashed and remade silhouettes.
