Vivienne Westwood

Harris Tweed returned Westwood to a London catwalk at Olympia in March 1987 and consolidated the British textile and tailoring language that would define her late-1980s work. Corsetry, tweed, Norfolk and Savile Row references, mini-crini volume and carefully structured outerwear turned national dress traditions into an active design vocabulary.

The Harris Tweed Authority dates its understood working relationship with Westwood to 1987 and credits the collection with helping generate fashion interest in the cloth. The collection’s importance lies in that specific material and construction language, without assigning it sole responsibility for the wider fortunes of the Harris Tweed industry.