Vivienne Westwood: 100 Days of Active Resistance

Dame Vivienne Westwood DBE is the greatest living British fashion designer. Born in Cheshire, England, in 1941 she is best known as the creator of punk and new wave fashions in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The first major retrospective of her work was shown in 2005-2005 at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. In 2008 she published her own manifesto in book form, Vivienne Westwood Opus.

In 2010 Vivienne Westwood and Lee Jeans launched an online manifesto-installation titled "100 Days of Active Resistance." The website invited people to submit an artwork, slogan or photograph responding to Westwood's conception of "Active Resistance to Propaganda," in which she argues for culture's capacity to elevate humanity above self-destruction. "It is not enough to follow world politics, see films and read the prizewinning bestsellers," she insists; "this is superficial, you need to go deep in order to understand who you are, what the world is and how things could be better. This involves culture which can only be acquired by self-education: human beings should mirror the world." Starting on September 8, 2010, for 100 days, one artwork was showcased online daily, ending with an exhibition displaying a selection of the best contributions. This volume gathers these works and commemorates the project.