Vivienne Westwood reveals her medieval inspiration

Westwood’s ready-to-wear collection unveiled in Paris For Vivienne Westwood’s autumn/winter 2013-14 collection, you get the sense that get better at her craft as the years go by. "I had a book about illuminated manuscripts and it was appealing because of the art and the method of painting and so then it became more about looking at medieval things - stained glass windows and pageants more than the paintings," Westwood told Vogue before the show.
Referring to the medieval crusade, she said: "What they brought back really changed England, ideas from the Arab world and Italy. And there's always something space-age about medieval costume, you look into the past to project the future, like a telescope. All designers create their vision of the future."
 With it all hooded capes and cropped little jackets, Westwood’s collections have always been about sustainable clothing - so this year’s past-present-future link also fitted in with political graphics featuring on knits, dresses and capes as messages to help shape the years to come.
 As the years have gone by her clothes have seemed to become more wearable (despite the disco sequins!). This year’s wonders included a huge befeathered number, her signature buxom ballgowns but the most notable is the pinstriped suiting. These came in all shapes and sizes; big cosy knits and blanket capes, beautiful floral embroidery on figure-hugging dresses and variations of them again in plain white.
 Despite the off-the-wall designs, her clothes send out one clear overriding message: we are an investment for the future.