WELCOME TO SEX - VIVIENNE WESTWOOD’S LEGENDARY BOUTIQUE
LONDON’S PUNK FASHION HUB IN THE 70s
The name may have changed, but to the core the store is still SEX and ROCK N ROLL. Vivienne Westwood’s inaugural boutique retains its authentic charm as the ultimate rebellious Mecca for devoted VW enthusiasts. Gata delved into the history of the iconic store and the relationship between Westwood and her ex partner Malcolm Mclaren, who was the manager of the Sex Pistols.
Nestled in London's Chelsea district amidst the fervour of the 1970s counterculture, stood a small shop that would leave an indelible mark on the landscape of fashion and rebellion. Originally christened Let it Rock, this boutique was the brainchild of the visionary duo Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood. More than a mere store, it became a cultural phenomenon—a crucible where art, music, and fashion collided to challenge norms and spark a revolution. With each passing year, the shop underwent a metamorphosis, shedding its old skin for new, more provocative identities and with it, its name. From being called Too Fast to Live Too Young to Die to the infamous SEX, the shop's evolution mirrored the changing tides of culture and fashion.
Malcolm Maclaren and Vivienne Westwood
The boutique began with the partnership between Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood in 1971, together they crafted a new aesthetic—one that was equal parts anarchic and elegant. Mclaren, a troubled art school dropout and Westwood a schoolteacher formed a compatible team. McLaren's audacious ideas found form in Westwood's skilled hands, resulting in iconic designs like the blanched chicken bone T-shirts—a fusion of McLaren's vision and Westwood's technical prowess. Westwood began by designing Teddy Boy clothes for Mclaren. A year later, Vivienne’s interests had turned to biker clothing, zips, and leather. The shop re-branded with a skull and crossbones and was renamed Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die. Vivienne and Malcolm began to design their own t-shirts with provocative printed slogans, which led to their prosecution under the 1959 Obscene Publications Act; they responded by re-branding the shop once again and producing even more t-shirts featuring hard-core images.
SEX
By 1974 the shop was renamed SEX, a shop “unlike anything else going on in England at the time” they used the slogan ‘rubberwear for the office’. SEX, in particular, became synonymous with English punk and the emergence of the Sex Pistols. McLaren's management of the band propelled their designs to international fame, transforming the shop into a breeding ground for revolution. Two years later, the Sex Pistols’ song ‘God Save the Queen’ went to number one in the charts but was refused airtime by the BBC. The shop reopened as Seditionaries, transforming the straps and zips of obscure sexual fetishism and bondage into fashion, and inspiring a D.I.Y. aesthetic. The mass media labelled this as ‘Punk Rock’.
Seditionaries
In December 1976 the shop was renamed to Seditionaries: Clothes For Heroes, only increasing the influence of designer Westwood in particular. With an intimidating opaque façade and an interior depicting the air-raided scenes of Dresden, Seditionaries was the ultimate rejection of West End consumerism, a topic that McLaren had explored in his unfinished 1970 film Oxford Street, and which was listed as a hate on Westwood’s ‘hates’ and ‘non-hates’.
There were countless rumours circulating about what went went on behind the doors. “You had to be really brave to go through the door,” Connor explains.
“God Save the Queen”
One design that marks this period was The t-shirt created by Westwood and McLaren in 1977, for the sex pistols ambum release. the same year that Queen Elizabeth II would celebrate her Silver Jubilee, marking twenty-five years of her reign as the Queen of England. IT was sold at Seditionaries and is emblematic of their designs, and their involvement in both music and clothing design.
According to renowned Blitz DJ Princess Julia “Seditionaries was an outreach everyone wanted to reach… Siouxsie Sioux and all of the icons of the day would hang there. It brought clothes that were about sex to the street… the zips and buckles of Westwood’s bondage trousers were really suggestive and fetishistic, except that they were made out of cloth, lightweight for the summer and heavier for winter… There was a real inventiveness going on, if you could only afford one Seditionaries item, you could make things out of sink plungers and plugs and chains and mix them all up.”
Worlds End
The collapse of the Sex Pistols and punk becoming mainstream left Vivienne disenchanted. Sid Vicous, the lead singer who had been accused of killing his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, died of an overdose, the band split up and Maclaren was deemed a fame seeking manipulator. Maclaren and her proceeded to end their personal and professional relationship.
In an 2011 interview with the Guardian, she is quotes saying “The punk movement … it was just a fashion that became a marketing opportunity for people,”.
Following the split, Westwood partnered with Italian PR Carlo D’Amari in 1984, who helped reinvent her business, leading to her recognition as Britain’s foremost fashion designer and turned her fan based empire into a financially stable and savvy company. Indeed they had a brief love affair as well, but it only lasted a few months. They reopened the shop in 1980 and renamed it Worlds End —a nod to the area’s literal name Worlds End, which was inspired by the buses in the area having World’s End as their destination. Encapsulates the energy perfectly. To this day, 430 Kings Road still stands as Vivienne Westwood's World’s End—a testament to her enduring legacy. The shop hasn’t changed aesthetically since opening its doors. The original interior was restored in 2017, but all details remain as they were designed by Westwood and Mclaren 40 years ago. Devotees flock to this iconic establishment, not only to purchase her unique creations but to experience the place where Westwood's made history. From asymmetrical shirts to pirate boots, World’s End remains a mecca of the unique—a timeless reminder of Westwood's indomitable spirit. With Westwood’s focus on environmental activism, the name has taken on a new meaning, the large counterclockwise working clock with thirteen hours ticking till the end of the World.
Words by Andrea Riano
