“It was Vivienne Westwood who taught me to turn off the light, not to use too much water, not to imagine too many clothes”

“These photos were taken in Vienna, in 1988 or 1989, in the first months after my meeting with Vivienne. She was my teacher; me, his pupil. I sometimes invited him to dinner and, on the way back, we once stopped at this Photo booth – I can’t remember why I have this balloon between my lips. We had fun, we laughed a lot, like everyone else when we’re young and stupid. I was then about twenty years old. I only wore boring charcoal gray clothes back then: slacks, turtlenecks. But, despite my long hair, I added wigs to my figure, often worn backwards, as if it were a cap. I came from a conservative and Catholic background, I spent my childhood in the Austrian mountains, but my parents, more open-minded, left me free to do what I wanted.

When I first saw Vivienne at the School of Applied Arts in Vienna, it was her look that first struck me, her freedom in the way she dressed. I didn’t know before her that the most attractive combination is sexy mixed with a good dose of humor – an equation that I still consider the best today. She and I hit it off immediately, always on the same wavelength. I could relate to and understand everything she said, everything she thought. We shared a passion for history, the past, especially the 18th^e century. Moreover, it is in the XVIII^e century that we met in a certain way!

In the way we work together to build the collections, nothing has really changed until today. Of course, I’m less withdrawn than before, but at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of a collection, I always ask his opinion. It’s only his judgment that I really trust. When I look back at the collections we’ve created together over the years, I notice that some are less successful, because of a dress that doesn’t work, an imperfect hairstyle or make-up…

“Since these images were taken, our bond has never been strained. That’s wonderful. »

But the intentions have never changed and some remain relevant, even improved, like a wine for laying down. In thirty years of working with her, what has changed the most is ultimately the visibility of the climate fight that has always guided our action. It was Vivienne who taught me to turn off the light, not to use too much water, not to use the washing machine too often, not to imagine too many clothes, not to buy anything that contains plastic, otherwise she burst out of anger !

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