Little is spoken in the watch community about the stories behind fashion watches.
We often talk about Seiko, Cartier and Rolex heritage, but there are rich and interesting stories behind the Gucci’s, Luis Vuitton’s and other fashion brands that are never shared.
As I’ve been learning more about the heritage behind these watch making fashion brands recently, I thought would start putting together some posts for others who are interested in exploring the dark side of watch collecting that is ‘fashion’.
Let’s start with Vivienne Westwood.
Vivienne Westwood has a very cool origin story.
She was born into a working class family in a small village in the Midlands of the UK, and started life as a primary school teacher.
She made her own jewellery and clothes and finally started to sell these to the public in the 60’s and 70’s (previously she always felt there was no money to be made in fashion).
Punk was her thing at the time, and her designs gained notoriety when she became the creator of the clothes worn by the Sex Pistols. The band even took their name from Vivienne’s clothing shop at the time, which was named ‘SEX’.
She enjoyed creating intentionally abrasive and controversial clothing during the punk era, but her style changed over the years, first towards ‘New Romantic’, when she was the creative designer behind Adam and the Ants, and then had a more 80’s appeal when she supplied clothes for Madonna’s videos.
So in the fashion world, this lady has credentials.
Vivienne made jewellery and accessories since her very early days in fashion, so watch design was a logical step for the brand.
Are Vivienne Westwood watches any good?
From what I can find out all of the brands watches are manufactured with Swiss quartz movements, and assembled in Hong Kong.
Actual reviews for Vivienne Westwood watches are exceptionally rare, but their product descriptions state cases and bracelets are stainless steel and the sportier models have 50m water resistance.
Designs vary from the exuberant to the mainstream and cater to both larger and smaller wrists.
I have my eyes open for one on eBay and will feedback when I’ve got some first hand experience of them, but on paper they look acceptable for around the £250 range.
It doesn’t feel like you are being charged an utterly ridiculous premium for the brand name, considering the Swiss movement.
So, why does the fashion watch world need Vivienne Westwood?
Fashion watches all tend to be judged as being of poor quality, short lived and disposable.
In a world where we are all trying to minimise our ecological impact, this fast fashion approach doesn’t sit well with the watch community, who tend to set high standards in quality and durability.
In theory, Vivienne Westwood shares these same standards.
She even puts them on her watch dials…
“Buy less, choose well, make it last.”
From Viviennewestwood.com:
Vivienne Westwood is one of the last independent global fashion brands in the world. We exist to do more than just produce clothes and accessories.
We use our collections, collaborations and catwalk shows as a platform to promote awareness and campaign for a better world. We use our voice to fight climate change, and to mobilise people around its impact on Mother Earth, Gaia, who sustains us all.
We know there is a contradiction between our activism and the industry we are part of. Fashion creates products which are too often disposable, and which – through their creation, distribution and eventual disposal – can have a disproportionately negative impact on our planet, its wildlife and people.
We know this and we know we must do better. We have been adapting the way we make our clothes and accessories over the last few years to reflect the growing urgency to change how the industry operates but, in this time of Climate Crisis, we must go further.
We continually challenge ourselves to make all our products with greater care for people and the environment and to lower our impact as much as possible. We push for a fashion industry that we can be proud to be part of. We are committed to strong, holistic action in the interests of farmers, artisans, supply chain workers, brand employees, our customers, our communities and all life on earth.
We are proud of the changes we have made so far. We understand there is so much more to do.”
Seems like a good place to be coming from, and is perhaps the common ground between fashion and watch enthusiasts.
If other fashion watch brands could follow the lead of Vivienne perhaps they could finally move towards shaking their dire image in the watch world.
When I get my hands on a VW watch and see for myself if her watches actually live up to the ‘Buy less, choose well, make it last’ ethos, I will let you know.
Kaysia
The Escapement Room 