Dame Tag

LONDON — WWD’s legendary late publisher and editorial director John B. Fairchild described Vivienne Westwood as a “designer’s designer” and her peers definitely agree.  Designers and fashion industry figures have been paying tribute to Westwood, who died Thursday at age 81, describing her not only as an iconoclast but as a fantastic teacher and role model. Fairchild considered Westwood one among the world’s six biggest designers, together with the likes of Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani, Karl Lagerfeld, Emanuel Ungaro and Christian Lacroix. Westwood signed a seven-year licensing agreement with Giorgio Armani in 1984 that gave the Italian designer exclusive rights to her name. But no clothes were ever produced under the agreement and in 1987 Westwood actually sued Armani for failing to pay her....