Here at the Fashion Buzz, we are constantly bringing you up to the minute news on what is happening out in the fashion world, but where do we get all of our fashion inspiration from? Some of the world's top designers have played a huge part in all this, including Dame Vivienne Westwood DBE. Some of us think of a glamorous Hollywood actress at the name, but Vivienne Westwood has almost always been in the fashion business. Born in April 1941, she is the British fashion designer widely known as the one who brought us modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream.

Her passion for fashion truly started in 1958 when she studied at the Harrow School of Art taking courses in Fashion and Silversmithing, but quit after just one term saying, "I didn't know how a working-class girl like me could possibly make a living in the art world." However, she began designing and creating jewellery and selling it on London's Portobello Road whilst teaching at a school. She then became interested in the Punk Era fashions of the 70s. Her second husband, Malcolm McLaren, opened up a boutique in London called 'Let It Rock' where Vivienne began selling her outrageous designs which attracted the attentions of bikers, fetishists and prostitutes. McLaren then became the manager of famous punk band the Sex Pistols who began wearing Vivienne's styles, and so setting off a huge punk trend. As well as several other amazing lines of work through the decades, Vivienne has more recently worked with Sex and the City where her designs were featured in the 2008 film.

Vivienne Westwood has advanced from an OBE to a DBE in 2006 for services to fashion, and has thrice earned the award British Designer of the Year. She has five exclusively owned shops; three in London, one in Leeds, and one in Milan as well as several franchises, where her fun features have included Savage (1981), Hobo and Buffalo (1982), and Pirate, Gold and Treasure, Adventure and Exploration. She is clearly a huge success, and an inspiration to many of us fashionistas.

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