Andreas Kronthaler paid homage to his late partner the best way he knew how.
When British designer Dame Vivienne Westwood passed away last December, she also left behind her longtime partner Andreas Kronthaler. The pair met in 1988, got married in 1993, and have worked on numerous collections together since then.
On the fifth day of Paris Fashion Week, Kronthaler presented his second collection since Westwood’s passing. In preparation for the spring/summer 2024 collection, he scoured through his late wife’s own wardrobe, recreating her iconic looks.
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“The collection consists of all the clothes Vivienne wore and all the clothes we made together over the past 30 years,” Kronthaler told Hypebeast. “In May, I went through and archived her closet at home — that’s why it’s called ‘43 Old Town,’ it is our house.”
With over 200 looks to choose from, the designer said he photographed all of them and put them in a hat. He then drew the 34 looks that would make it onto the runway. When asked why he decided on this specific number, he replied “Because those are the years I knew Vivienne.”
The late designer’s lasting legacy
Before she passed, Kronthaler often took photos of his wife’s unique outfits, filling his Instagram feed with her latest style choices. It’s no surprise that he chose to pay tribute to one of fashion’s most formidable forces through one of the ways they connected the most.
“Loved the way she dressed. Always the opposite of everybody else,” Kronthaler wrote on the Vivienne Westwood Instagram page.
“Wore things until they fell apart—her corduroy suit which she wore over twenty years constantly. A great mender, always done in bed—never wasted anything. She understood how to make the most of herself—the most of it!
“Her thought was always somewhere else, somewhere exciting, that’s what made her so attractive. She had a very special relationship to time, she truly traveled in her mind. I owe her so much.”
The show ended with two bridal looks, one of which was modeled by Westwood’s own granddaughter, Cora Corré.
Banner image via Instagram @viviennewestwood.
