Get a Life: The Diaries of Vivienne Westwood

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Westwood had 11 exclusively-owned shops in UK; four in London, and one in Bicester Village, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow, Manchester and Nottingham. She also has showrooms in Milan, Paris and Los Angeles. Support authors: If you like this and can afford it, consider buying the original, or supporting the authors directly.

As well as documenting the evolution of her collections and fashion shows, Westwood presents a passionate manifesto for activism and change. Not only was Vivienne Westwood a punk icon and fashion inventor, she was also an activist for climate change and a major supporter and friend of Julian Assange. She corresponded with Leonard Peltier for many years and worked for his release from prison. She had the essential attribute of curiosity and read widely on many subjects. She also did her reading in bed, which I was glad to hear because I do, too. Her wit and compassion were endless. Her death at the end of last year was a tragedy, but she left us so much. To be so full of energy and life at her age - and to rally against what you believe is detrimental to the future - environmental, creative and judicious... Stunning production qualities alone make this book very collectable. And then there are the personal colour photographs, fashion, celebrities, musings and reflections; the passion that is Vivienne Westwood.

Everyone knows it: Vivienne Westwood is a goddess. But how did she transcend her mortal status? Aside from her visionary, arresting designs, what blows our minds about Westwood is her eternal youth. It’s not just her trendiness and her hot hubby. It’s her unwavering progressiveness. It’s her ability to see our world a little differently than most people, to hold on to some sort of child-like wonder over her surroundings. It’s her belief in the possibility of a different world, of a better world. Yoga. I am rewriting my manifesto as I have inexplicably left out a section on Gaia. At yoga, I suddenly had the stunning revelation that Alice in Wonderland, a book written by Lewis Carroll, actually proves Einstein’s theory of relativity. Andreas thinks I might be on to something and says: “Wow, everything is connected.”

She lives a busy, busy life - and as she records her daily routine we begin to get to know this woman - in an intimate productive way... Vivienne Westwood began Get A Life , her online diary, in 2010 with an impassioned post about Native American activist Leonard Peltier. Since then, she has written two or three entries each month, discussing her life in fashion and her involvement with art, politics and the environment. Now compiled in a beautifully illustrated volume, Westwood’s diaries give the reader a front-row vista on her spirited, unpredictable life. Yoga. After calling my friend Shami Chakrabati to talk about how climate change is destroying the world, I fly to Rome to have a tofu salad with Pamela Anderson. I tell her the financial crisis is the exact mirror of the ecological disaster. She agrees. Pamela is one of the smartest people I know. The next day, I start working on my Gold Label collection. I decide on two ribbons and a hat. Hats add gravitas. Fashion can be so demanding sometimes. In a normal day, I start work at 10 in the morning and end at 10.36. Honestly, just from reading this book, I can tell that Vivienne Westwood is a wholly genuine person. She's outspoken. She fights for what she believes in. Before I read this book, I think I just kind of figured that fashion designers were just high-class citizens who uphold a bourgeois status, not really socially and culturally aware. Vivienne Westwood shook me to my foundations. At last, I wanted to cry out, a celebrity who recognizes that politicians only care about themselves and who cares about the earth and who will actually do things about the things she cares about. She was a breath of fresh air.Amidst the big names and big ideas, there are rare, tender glimpses into Westwood’s marriage with the devoted Andreas. For the past six years, fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood has written an online diary documenting her adventures in fashion, art and climate change activism. My diaries are about the things I care about,” says Westwood. “Not just fashion but art and writing, human rights, climate change, freedom. I call the diaries Get a Life as that’s how I feel: you’ve got to get involved, speak out and take action.” However, with that being said, it's a little hard to review somebody's innermost thoughts! So, I figure that I should tell you all right now that if you enjoy biographies, if you enjoy women with conviction, and if you enjoy reading about politics, this is the book for you. At times there feels like a little too much name-dropping - but this is the circle she moves in....