Dame Vivienne was always about far more than window dressing. As she would later demonstrate through her support of various causes, she cared deeply about social progress. Taking up the cause of the environment, she adopted a position that seemed at odds with the business of fashion, urging consumers to “buy less”.
“Vivienne was never as motivated by money and fame,” Garry Hogarth, the former chief executive of Agent Provocateur, the brand co-founded by Corré’s father, tells The Telegraph. “Her designs and the way she lived her life and ran her business were true to herself. I never felt she was just about making money.”
Hogarth has known Corré since she was a young girl and says she was close to her grandmother. “I think she’d be doing what she believed her grandmother wanted,” he says. “She’s true to her.”
He is not alone in this view. Alexandra Shulman, the former editor-in-chief of British Vogue, describes Corré as a “devoted granddaughter” who has been “such a keeper of the flame”. She says: “I feel sure she would have Vivienne’s interests at the heart of her actions.”
But when the namesake of a brand is no longer there, deciding how to continue their legacy isn’t always straightforward, as Dame Vivienne’s biographer Jessica Bumpus suggests. “Things can get complicated,” says Bumpus, author of Vivienne Westwood: The Story Behind the Style. “When a fashion designer themselves is no longer at the label, it does change. These brands evolve.”