Patti Smith paid tribute to Vivienne Westwood with a performance of ‘Redondo Beach’ at a gig last week – see footage below.
Westwood, the legendary British fashion designer and activist, died last week (December 29) at the age of 81.
“Vivienne Westwood died today, peacefully and surrounded by her family, in Clapham, South London,” a message posted on her official Twitter page read. “The world needs people like Vivienne to make a change for the better.”
The following night (December 30), Smith played her annual birthday show in New York City, this time at the Brooklyn Bowl.
During the set she performed ‘Redondo Beach’ to honour Westwood. At the end of the ‘Horses’ classic, she said: “Goodbye, Vivienne.”
Watch the performance below.
In a statement emailed to the press, Westwood’s husband and creative partner Andreas Kronthaler said: “I will continue with Vivienne in my heart. We have been working until the end and she has given me plenty of things to get on with.”
Westwood was an integral part of the British punk movement in the 1970s, helping to shape the scene with her clothing. Early in her career she made clothes for SEX, the Chelsea boutique she ran with Malcolm McLaren. SEX was later renamed Seditionaries: Clothes for Heroes and Westwood and went on to dress the Sex Pistols, whom McLaren managed.
Punk icon Jordan, who died earlier this year, worked as a model for Westwood and managed the shop, while the likes of Siouxsie And The Banshees and Adam And The Ants musician Marco Pirroni, singer-songwriter and formative punk figure Gene October, and more also frequented the store.
In recent years the designer became a prominent climate change activist, creating the Climate Revolution in 2012. She unveiled the initiative at the London Paralympics closing ceremony that year.
Westwood also committed her fashion house to reducing its contributions to climate change. In 2020 her spring/summer collection featured clothes made of organic cotton and natural flax, with thread that had been sourced from trees grown in managed forests.
Stars from across the entertainment world paid tribute to Westwood following her death.
“You gave me the courage to express myself,” Yungblud wrote on Twitter. “You were the reason I left the house with the confidence to look the way I did. Heartbroken. Thank you for everything, Viv. RIP.”