Vivienne Westwood’s Iconic Corsets Are Being Reissued

As we prepare to enter a new decade, Vivienne Westwood is reviving an element of her past: the corset. Not the traditional, rib-crushing kind that women were lacing themselves into back in the 16th Century – but the empowering, punk-infused version she unleashed in her Harris Tweed collection in 1987.

The British fashion designer, who first incorporated corsets into her punk aesthetic in the 1970´s, reimagined the garment through a lens of female power, rather than oppression. Now, one of her most iconic designs is set to make a return. Dressed in three shades – ivory, red and black – Westwood’s classic corset (£1,045) is being reissued for a limited time only in stores in London, New York, Paris, Milan and Los Angeles.

Designers from Stella McCartney to Jean Paul Gaultier have experimented with the corset or corset-like tailoring in their designs, but it remains most associated with Westwood, who first utilised it when experimenting with fetish-wear at Sex, the King’s Road boutique she ran with Malcolm McLaren in the 1970´s. Now, it seems, the time is ripe for its latest revival.