This Vivienne Westwood corset (object number: 2006/96/12) is a remarkable fusion of high art and street-level rebellion, serving as a cornerstone of the Powerhouse Museum’s fashion collection. Designed for the Autumn-Winter 1990–91 collection, this piece captures the exact moment when Westwood, the legendary “Doyenne of Punk”, shifted her gaze from the raw energy of the 1970s London underground toward the opulent galleries of art history. By taking a 250-year-old French masterpiece and transforming it into a piece of modern ‘body armour’, Westwood proved that the past is not something to be kept behind glass, but a vibrant toolbox for creating something entirely new and provocative.
At the heart of this garment is a lush, photographic print of Daphnis and Chloe (1743–45) by François Boucher, a painter whose work epitomised the decadent and sugary tastes of the French royal court. Westwood’s decision to source this image was a characteristic act of creative ‘piracy’. Rather than seeking formal permission, she famously photographed the painting from the back of a museum guidebook, arguing that the beauty of the image belonged to the world. By placing this delicate, pastoral scene onto a corset, she was playing a brilliant game of contrast, marrying the ‘high-brow’ prestige of an 18th-century oil painting with the ‘low-brow’ grit of a designer who once dressed the Sex Pistols.
The construction of the corset itself was just as revolutionary as its print. For centuries, the corset was a symbol of female restriction, built from rigid whalebone and stiff linen that literally took a woman’s breath away. Westwood flipped this script by reimagining the silhouette using 20th-century technology. By utilising modern synthetic materials like elastane and flexible plastic boning, she created a garment that mimicked the historical ‘lift’ of the 1700s but allowed the wearer to move and breathe freely. Most importantly, she designed these corsets to be worn as outerwear rather than hidden under layers of clothing, effectively reclaiming an intimate undergarment as a public symbol of female empowerment and erotic agency.
The life of this specific object at the Powerhouse is tied to the vibrant creative ‘tribe’ of the 1990s, having been donated by Natalie Elliott. For Elliott and her circle, these clothes were not just luxury items; they were the uniform for a life lived in the legendary nightclubs of Melbourne and London. This corset was not born in a display case; it was worn to the infamous Daisy Chain club in London and the Razor club in Melbourne, standing out even in rooms filled with the era’s most avant-garde icons. As Elliott recalls, wearing Westwood made you feel “special and different”, offering a way to be fashionable that didn’t follow trends but instead sprinted ahead of them.
Ultimately, the Corset remains one of the most influential fashion innovations of the late 20th century because it bridges the gap between the museum and the dance floor. It serves as a testament to Westwood’s belief that true originality comes from “overlaying your own ideas” onto the vitality of the past. When you look at this piece today, you see more than just printed silk and plastic boning; you see a masterpiece of subversion that continues to challenge our ideas about gender, history, and the power of a great outfit to start a conversation. Westwood may have passed away in 2022, but through objects like this, her rebellious spirit continues to command the room.
Blogpost by volunteer Hannah