{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O70070"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O70070/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O70070","accessionNumber":"T.190:1&2-2002","objectType":"Ensemble","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"For well over three decades Vivienne Westwood, along with her one-time partner Malcolm McLaren, has been at the centre of British fashion and one of its most inventive and influential designers. Westwood’s career in fashion was galvanised by McLaren and together they launched memorable fashion moments, including Punk in the early 1970s and later their Pirates collection. McLaren and Westwood conducted a design relationship between 1971 and 1983. In 1990 and again in 1991 Vivienne Westwood was named British Designer of the Year; she has also received an OBE.\r\n\r\nWestwood’s unique mix of practicality and inventiveness, her preoccupation with silhouette and the manner in which she manipulates fabrics result in dynamic fashion. Westwood herself once said, 'You have a much better life if you wear impressive clothes.’ \r\n\r\nThis skirt, from Westwood’s ‘Mini Crini’ collections, reflects Westwood’s career-long fascination with historical dress, and the designer’s interest in incorporating such elements into her work. Westwood’s abbreviated crinoline, made in cottons and lightweight tweeds, combined the historic construction of the original with the short skirt lengths of the modern mini. She rendered them in whimsical prints, such as this large-scale polka dot pattern. Westwood has been quoted as saying about the crini, ‘It was made out of fake plastic whalebone, and when you sit down it just collapses around you so you don’t even notice it (Wilcox, C, ‘Vivienne Westwood’, V & A Publications, 2004, p. 20).","physicalDescription":"Ensemble of long-sleeved, white lycra corset and red and beige polka dot rayon hoop skirt with drawstring closure.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Vivienne Westwood","id":"A4913"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"AAT25190"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"McLaren, Malcolm","id":"A6349"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":"co-designer of skirt"}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Clothing","id":"THES48975"},{"text":"Gender and Sexuality","id":"THES48940"},{"text":"The Michael and Gerlinde Costiff Costume Collection","id":"THES281236"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"016","id":"THES308139"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"016","id":"THES308139"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Corset","id":""}],[{"text":"Skirt","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"T.11:1-2026","id":"O1812809"},"association":"Ensemble"},{"object":{"text":"T.191:1-2002","id":"O70079"},"association":"Colourway"}],"creditLine":"Purchased with Art Fund support and assistance from the Friends of the V&A, the Elsbeth Evans Trust, and the Dorothy Hughes Bequest","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Circumference","value":"70","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"at waist","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Ensemble, womenswear, white lycra corset and beige / red rayon skirt, Vivienne Westwood, Britain, 1985-1990.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["T.190:1-2002","T.190:2-2002"],"accessionNumberNum":"190","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":2002,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Corset","Skirt"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-26","recordCreationDate":"2002-11-13","availableToBook":true}}