Vivienne Westwood jewellery exhibition to celebrate designer's 'close relationship' with Scotland

A “spectacular” exhibition of jewellery design by fashion designer Vivienne Westwood is to go on show at the V&A Museum in Dundee.

Vivienne Westwood & Jewellery, which will also feature Ms Westwood’s love of Scottish textiles and culture through a series of archive looks, is to be the main exhibition at the venue next year.

The exhibition will offer an immersive look at Vivienne Westwood’s extensive history of jewellery design – encompassing Westwood’s sensibilities for historical reference and culture, past and present - as well as celebrating the house’s “symbiotic relationship with Scotland”.

Simone Earrings designed by Vivienne Westwood. Pic: Philippe Lacombe | Vivienne Westwood

Curated by the Vivienne Westwood team, the exhibition presents four decades of special archive and runway jewellery displayed together as a collection for the first time.

Recalling seminal past collections and runway shows, visitors can expect a curated dialogue between jewellery and garments, surrounded by sound, catwalk looks, graphic wall collages, imagery, and video, offering a unique perspective into the Vivienne Westwood world.

Caroline Grewar, programme director of V&A Dundee said: “We are delighted to announce Vivienne Westwood & Jewellery as our major exhibition for 2027.

“Curated by the Vivienne Westwood team, this spectacular new exhibition can be seen by audiences in the UK for the first time at V&A Dundee, Scotland's design museum, from March next year.”

Vivienne Westwood had a close relationship with Scotland. Pic: Jo Metson Scott | Vivienne Westwood

She added: “The exhibition celebrates the British design house – exploring four decades of jewellery collections, paired with garments, imagery and video, offering a unique perspective into the Vivienne Westwood world.

“Dame Vivienne Westwood has always had a close connection with Scotland, receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Dundee in 2008, spending time with art and design students during her visit. Opening Vivienne Westwood & Jewellery in Dundee is deeply significant, celebrating an extraordinary creative legacy and marking an important connection with the city.”

In 1993, Ms Westwood, who died four years ago aged 81, worked with weavers Lochcarron of Scotland to design her own blue and pink tartan, the MacAndreas, named after her husband and design partner Andreas Kronthaler.

The fabric was added to the Scottish Tartans Authority that same year. Ms Westwood also designed other tartans, giving them names like MacPoiret, after the French master couturier Paul Poiret.

Mr Kronthaler, creative director of Vivienne Westwood, said: “Scotland has always been in mine and Vivienne’s hearts, and I really got to know it through Vivienne.

“I always go back to its traditions - I even have my own tartan the MacAndreas which is one of the first things I made when I came to London. So I am really happy to show the exhibition in Dundee - it’s a brilliant opportunity.”

Last year, the London headquarters of the fashion house founded by Ms Westwood submitted plans to incorporate the designer’s favourite tartan motifs into a new part of the building.

Although Ms Westwood is English, she came out in support of Scottish independence during the 2014 independence referendum. At London Fashion Week that year, she sent models down the catwalk wearing “Yes” badges and distributed a statement headed “Democracy in the UK” to journalists and buyers, its title spelt out in punk-style newspaper cut out letters.

“It could be the turning point towards a better world, they could lead by example,” she wrote in the statement.