PHOTOGRAPHY Ki Price
In the year that marks 50 years since punk detonated British culture, Soho becomes the site of its aftershock. Vivienne Westwood: An Active Life opens on 19th February at The Light House, the five-storey Georgian townhouse helmed by Joe Corré, bringing together never-before-seen photographs, museum-worthy archival pieces, and a community who continue to worship the late designer’s legacy.
Rather than a static tribute, the exhibition celebrates Westwood not simply as an architect of style, but as a political force whose ideas feel uncannily current. Limited-edition prints of these rare images by photographer Ki Price will be sold, with 50% of proceeds supporting The Vivienne Foundation, while over 100 archival pieces assembled by collector Steven Philip span from her early punk experiments to iconic runway provocations.
Price worked with Westwood for more than a decade, documenting everything from catwalks to campaign trails with startling intimacy. “Vivienne wasn’t just someone I worked with; she was a close friend and a true collaborator,” he says. “From early on, we understood that what we were doing mattered, that it had purpose beyond fashion or imagery. There was a shared sense of responsibility, and because of that, I was slowly welcomed into her inner world.”
His access slowly grew as their friendship blossomed, shifting his perspective. “At first, I was in awe of her strength and fearlessness. She seemed unstoppable,” he explains. “But as I spent more time with her – in private conversations, backstage, at home – I began to see how thoughtful and emotionally open she was. We would talk about literature, about Faust, about politics, about the future, about what was urgently at hand. Even in the middle of chaos, she always made space for real connection.”
She lived her beliefs every day. Being close to her changed how I think, how I work, and how I move through life. It taught me that creativity and conscience have to exist together.
Ki Price
The exhibition’s title, An Active Life, is not hyperbolic. Price’s work refuses to calcify Westwood into static iconography; it insists on her as active, thinking, restless. “I stopped seeing her as just an icon and began seeing her as someone who carried an enormous sense of responsibility for the world,” he shares. “She lived her beliefs every day. Being close to her changed how I think, how I work, and how I move through life. It taught me that creativity and conscience have to exist together.”
Balancing her public myth with this personal humanity was central to his approach. “Vivienne was already surrounded by mythology when I began photographing her. People saw the rebel, the provocateur, the revolutionary. But that was never the person I experienced day to day,” he says. “I wanted my photographs to hold that truth. To show her thinking, resting, laughing, doubting, feeling, as well as protesting and speaking out. That honesty felt important, even political.”
Revisiting the archive in 2026, amid escalating climate crises and global instability, lends the images renewed force. “When I look at the archive now, what stands out most to me is how much of herself Vivienne gave to this world,” Price reflects. “The energy, the focus, the emotional and physical commitment; she never held anything back.” There is grief embedded in the work, too. “I look back at the images and feel a tremendous amount of love and loss. I miss her deeply… Looking at the photographs now feels like being in dialogue with her again. It reminds me of what she gave, what she expected from us, and how important it is not to let that disappear.”
If Price’s photographs provide the pulse, Philip’s curation offers the physical architecture. Co-founder of the cult West London emporium Rellik and a collector for more than 35 years, he traces his own origin story back to a single purchase. “The first Westwood piece I collected was a red and white AW81/82 Piratescollection squiggle sash. I purchased it from World’s End, and I wasn’t living in London at the time, so I made the trip specifically from Dundee!” he recalls. “I had to have a piece of the iconic squiggle – Westwood’s pieces were never season-specific; throw it on any time, and it’s never dated.”
That sense of timeless insurgency underpins the ‘Best of Vivienne’ edit, which includes relics of her distinguished design signatures. “I wanted to include a mix of all those things your brain instantly jumps to when Westwood is mentioned: pirate, punk, tartan, crown, mini-crinis, Buffalo, Dietrich… the Westwood greats!” he says.
For younger collectors entering Vivienne’s world via vintage, Philip offers some expert insight. “Westwood was an incredible storyteller, dissecting and merging subcultures and class systems at her whim,” he notes. “What strikes me more than anything is that she never followed any trends – when everyone went flat, she went high. In the 90s, when it was minimal, she went maximalist. If society zigged, she zagged.” His advice is as direct as the garments themselves: “Go against the grain; it’s such a saturated market, find one unusual thing to collect and do it really well.”
Westwood was an incredible storyteller, dissecting and merging subcultures and class systems at her whim. What strikes me more than anything is that she never followed any trends.. if society zigged, she zagged.
Staged inside The Light House, a new Soho hub for avant-garde designers, Vivienne Westwood: An Active Life is not simply a look back at what Westwood did, but a reminder of the tenacity with which she did it.
Vivienne Westwood: An Active Life is open from 19th February til 19th March at The Light House.
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