The world needs "people like Vivienne to change for the better," her company said. Her husband, designer Andreas Kronthaler, said in a statement quoted by the PA news agency that he and Westwood "worked to the end". She gave him "a lot" so that he could continue. "Thanks, my darling."

Born in Northern England in 1941, Westwood began tailoring her first clothes as a teenager. She rose to prominence in the 1970s when she ran a fashion store called Sex in London with her partner Malcolm McLaren, manager of the punk band Sex Pistols. She made her breakthrough as a designer in 1981 with a show where she presented her legendary "Pirate Collection".

Westwood turned the provocation into an art form: She sent top model Kate Moss down the catwalk with bare breasts and eating ice cream. Colleague Naomi Campbell nearly fractured an ankle when she failed to stand up on a pair of her 9-inch platform heels. Westwood was also politically involved until the end, especially for environmental and climate protection.