Vivienne Westwood's Son Denounces Documentary

Back in January, Vivienne Westwood distanced herself from Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist, a feature-length film celebrating the artistry, activism and cultural significance of the designer.

Now, Westwood’s eldest son, Ben Westwood, has echoed his mother’s disappointment at the “mediocre” documentary, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival and is currently showing at London cinemas. In a statement given to Dazed, he denounced director Lorna Tucker’s use of free archive footage, rather than focusing on Vivienne's social, political and environmental campaign work, which was the original concept.

“She chose to miss the real story,” Westwood said of Tucker’s narrative, which she formulated over three years following the designer. “Let alone illustrating Vivienne’s world view or her environmental work, the film does not even show her fashion properly… That film is on the cutting room floor.”

To make amends, Westwood goes on to suggest that Tucker returns all of the footage to the Westwood family, and uses the profits to make a generous donation to one of Vivienne’s charities - “One of the many charities you will not have heard about in Lorna’s film.”

Just recently, I have had the chance to watch the film that Lorna Tucker has been making for the last three years, about my mother Vivienne & I would like to make the following statement:

Lorna asked Vivienne if she could make a film about her activism, Vivienne agreed because she wanted to help her. Vivienne asked for no money & everybody was extremely generous with Lorna. She had access to Vivienne’s home & her family & friends & we provided her with personal photos & archive material.

But what was Lorna really doing for those three years? She had access to everything & yet she chose to focus on what was not important. She chose to miss the real story. Let alone illustrating Vivienne’s world view or her environmental work, the film does not even show her fashion properly. Vivienne had done great work in fashion during those three years of filming, but she hasn’t shown any of it.

That film is on the cutting room floor. I would like to suggest that Lorna returns all of that footage to us, as it is the only record of these events & that since she is bound to make money from this film, that she makes a generous donation to one of Vivienne’s charities, one of the many charities you will not have heard about in Lorna’s film.