• Vivienne Westwood died on Thursday at the age of 81.
• She was synonymous with 1970s punk rock.
• Her outspoken political stance made her one of the most recognisable names in British fashion.

As the lady who dressed the Sex Pistols, Vivienne Westwood, who died on Thursday at 81, was synonymous with 1970s punk rock. Her outspoken political stance made her one of the most recognisable names in British fashion.

“Vivienne Westwood died today, peacefully and surrounded by her family, in Clapham, South London. The world needs people like Vivienne to make a change for the better, ” her fashion house tweeted.

Climate change, pollution, and her backing for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange all inspired models to carry protest T-shirts and posters down the runway.

To protest fracking, she donned a Margaret Thatcher costume for a magazine cover in 1989 and drove a white tank near the rural estate of future British Premier David Cameron.

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In 1992, Queen Elizabeth incorporated the rebel into the British establishment by awarding her the Order of the British Empire medal. However, in an effort to shock, Westwood arrived to Buckingham Palace sans undergarments, which she demonstrated to journalists by twirling her skirt.

“The only reason I am in fashion is to destroy the word ‘conformity’,” Westwood said in her 2014 biography. “Nothing is interesting to me unless it’s got that element.”

Westwood, whose orange or white hair made her instantly recognisable, gained her name in punk fashion in 1970s London by outfitting the pioneering punk music band.

Together with the manager of the Sex Pistols, Malcolm McLaren, she rejected the hippie tendencies of the period by selling clothing inspired by rock-and-roll.

They progressed to shredded garments studded with chains as well as latex and fetish pieces, which they sold in their store on London’s King’s Road, which was variously named “Let It Rock,” “Sex,” and “Seditionaries.”

They utilised prints of swastikas, breasts without clothing, and, perhaps most notably, an image of the queen with a safety pin through her mouth. Favorite things included sleeveless black T-shirts with studs, zips, safety pins, and chicken bones that had been breached.

“There was no punk before me and Malcolm,” Westwood said in the biography. “And the other thing you should know about punk too: it was a total blast.”

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