Bell-bottoms, platform shoes, hot pants - all of these fashion crazes came to prominence and have become icons of the 1970's. With the influence of the glam and punk rock music styles still fresh in the public eye, capturing the attention of the world with their innovative, radical ideals, the 1970's was a decade obsessed with the newest, hottest fashion trends. At the top of the heap in a punk rocker's world was a woman who went against the grain and brought edgy looks to the mainstream: Vivienne Westwood.

Westwood got her beginnings as a primary schoolteacher when she sold her jewellery at a Portobello Road stall, but her career as a designer only continued to bloom after she met Malcolm McLaren. The two lived together in Clapham and in 1971, while she continued teaching, Westwood and McLaren opened Let It Rock, a boutique that both he and Westwood operated collaboratively. They drew their inspiration from fetish fashions and bikers, creating a style heavily inspired by the punk rock music style and bringing it to the attention of mainstream audiences.

A fan of the punk genre, Westwood continued to push the envelope, implementing BDSM fashion, razor blades, chains, and spikes into her clothing and jewellery lines. Westwood's fashion sense drew a great deal of inspiration from the punk rock style, so while her fashions eventually went on to be considered high fashion, her original lines embraced the do-it-yourself feel. Her joint collaboration with McLaren left a deep impression in the 1970's fashion movement, emphasizing radical ideals and implementing the infamous tartan fabric that went on to be associated with punk fashions from the 70's.

McLaren, a fairly prominent figure in the music world, went on to manage the popular punk rock band, the Sex Pistols, and when the band began wearing Let It Rock's designs, Westwood's fashions exploded with popularity, setting off a chain of events that made the punk rock fashion an international phenomenon. Westwood's ground breaking designs only continued to gain followers, making her one of the most prominent fashion designers of the decade and immortalizing her as an innovative fashion icon of the 20th century.