In my Journalism Principles and Practice Module we covered how to write obituaries. I didn't know that there were so many rules and things to include so I thought it was quite interesting to learn the correct formula. Before I do reveal my first attempt I would like to point out that thankfully Vivienne Westwood is not dead, out tutor just wanted to test out research skills and our obituary writing skills. Without further ado here is mine.
Today fashion designer Vivienne Westwood has died of a heart attack on the catwalk at Paris fashion week aged 72.
Vivienne Isabel Westwood (previously Swire) was born in Glossop, Derbyshire in the United Kingdom on April 8th 1941 to Gordon Swire and Dora Swire (Nee Ball).
Her parents worked as a cobbler and as a cotton mill worker respectively before running a sub post office in Tintwistle after the war, the family moved to North West London after this.
The famous fashion designer left Glossop Grammar school aged 16 and briefly attended Harrow Art College but didn’t believe that she could make something of herself and consequently dropped out and became a factory worker.
In 1962 Ms Westwood married Derek Westwood, birthed her first child Benjamin Westwood in 1963 and became a teacher however her marriage dissolved and she met Malcom Mclaren future manager of the Sex Pistols, with whom she had her second child Joseph Ferdinand Corre in 1967.
In 1971 McLaren opened up a boutique shop on Kings Street, London and filled it with Westwood’s designs, it was named “Let it rock” and triggered her fame after she dressed Johnny Rotten and the Sex Pistols band members.
In 1993, ten years after she split with Mclaren, she married a second time to her assistant Andreas Kronthaler who is 25 years her junior. Before she died the pair lived in South London.
In 1991 she was named “British designer of the year” for the first time and in 1992 was given an OBE (Order of the British Empire), she also won the Queen’s export award in 1998.
In 2007 she was awarded the gong for Outstanding Achievement in Fashion Design at the British Fashion Awards and in 2010 she was honoured at a ceremony for the Prince Phillips Designer Prize and received a special commendation for her contribution to design from HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.
In 2011 she went with her photographer Juergen Teller to Africa to work on her autumn/winter 2011-12 Ethical Fashion Africa collection – a programme which enlists thousands of local women to use their skills to produce bags for Westwood for a fair wage.
Her son Benjamin is an erotica photographer and her son Joseph is the founder of popular underwear brand, Agent Provocateur.
Price’s funeral home will be taking care of Ms Westwood’s body, she has requested that her ashes be scattered outside Buckingham Palace.
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