Vivienne Westwood: Fylde Green Party candidate remembers sharing a tour bus with Dame Vivienne on anti-fracking campaign

Tina Rothery, the Green Party candidate for Fylde, got to know Dame Vivienne while they were sleeping on a tourbus during anti-fracking awareness tour in 2014/15.

‘Vivienne would come out translucent and lovely and then worked hard all day’

Tina, who began researching the effects of shale gas industry when she moved to Blackpool around ten years ago, remembers the fashion icon as a ‘tireless’ campaigner who ‘woke up looking perfect’.

She said: “I would get out of bed, look up and Vivienne would come out translucent and lovely and then worked hard all day raising interest with the press and getting people to come along to the public meeting. Her only request was that she wanted to be left alone one hour a day with her book.”

Tina had set up a group called Nanas Against Fracking, with other women who were concerned about the dangers linked to the controversial practice.

‘Suddenly they were talking about fracking in a Japanese fashion magazine’

Vivienne was made an honorary member, and given her own tabard and nickname - ‘Nana Anarchy’.

Then the Dame invited the girls to drive a tank to David Cameron's house to declare war on fracking.

It was an ‘over the top’ stunt that highlighted their cause and got the world talking.

“You could run around stopping a million trucks on the motorway and you’d never achieve what Vivienne gave us. Suddenly they were talking about fracking in a Japanese fashion magazine, because Vivienne was involved. You can't get that. And she made sure she was well informed on every subject so she could speak clearly to the press.”

‘We put on Dancing Queen, and [Viv] grabbed one of our nanas and danced with her.’

In 2018 the group went to protest at the Cuadrilla site on Preston New Road, and Vivienne joined them - with a flag she’d made herself, and her ‘own agenda’.

The fashion designer was at the drill site near Little Plumpton with her son Joe Corré who is an environmental activist and delivered a political message to a large group of supporters.

She told them that fracking had to be stopped for the sake of the planet as more fossil fuel extraction would only make global warming worse and leave the world facing global catastrophe in a generation.

And she danced to ABBA's Dancing Queen to mock Prime Minister Theresa May who had recently danced to the hit on the stage at the Conservative Party Conference.

“We put on Dancing Queen, and [Viv] grabbed one of our nanas and danced with her. That was the turning point of her life.”

When Vivienne spoke, people took notice

The pioneering fashion designer made a name for herself on the fashion scene in the 1970s, with her androgynous designs, slogan t-shirts and irreverent attitude towards the establishment.

Tina said that when Vivienne spoke, people took notice and started to take the cause seriously.

During the speech, Viv spoke up for the locals, saying: "I have a message to Theresa May. We have the Lancashire Nanas and the aunties protesting against fracking, she is just anti, anti-people, anti-world and anti-lives.”

The designer also campaigned tirelessly about various issues – including animal rights, fast fashion and Scottish Independence.

Vivienne’s support gave them a massive boost to morale

Vivienne added during her speech at Preston New Road: "This visit is also about freedom to protest. We have seen here that if you are going to protest about government misrule like we have seen with fracking, then you are going to be put in prison.”

Tina recalled how protesting in Blackpool was a ‘thankless task’, but Vivienne’s support gave them a massive boost to morale and made people take notice of their cause.

‘We were so grateful to be on the same page as this amazing woman’

“We were not best loved and we received a lot of hatred and to have someone like Vivienne come and dance with you and wrap her arms around you, we were so grateful to be on the same page as this amazing woman.”

Bex Fitton, Nana and activist, joined Dame Viv on the march to David Cameron’s house along with her daughter.

She said: “As an old punk and an artist I had admired and somewhat idolised her since the late 70s I couldn't believe I was going to meet her.

To be meeting her in the context of environmental activism made it even more incredible. Vivienne Westwood was so authentic and had such great integrity and passion. She was the epitome of what is still fabulous about being British. The afterlife just got a bit more punk.”

Bex’s fondest memory was of being asked to make a tabard for the Dame to wear at short notice.

She added: “I jazzed it up the best I could with marker pens, safety pins and badges. I'm sure the punk in her appreciated my efforts.

Not everyone can say Vivienne Westwood has worn something they designed!”

Dame Vivienne died on Thursday (29 December) “peacefully, and surrounded by her family in Clapham, south London”, her representatives said.

The 81-year-old’s husband and creative partner Andreas Kronthaler said: “I will continue with Vivienne in my heart. We have been working until the end and she has given me plenty of things to get on with. Thank you darling.”

Vivienne continued to do the things she loved, up until the last moment

The statement from her representatives added: “Vivienne continued to do the things she loved, up until the last moment, designing, working on her art, writing her book, and changing the world for the better. She led an amazing life.

Dame Vivienne, who was born in Cheshire in 1941, is largely accepted as being responsible for bringing punk and new wave fashion into the mainstream with her eccentric creations. Her designs were regularly worn by high-profile individuals including Dita Von Teese who wore a purple Westwood wedding gown to marry Marilyn Manson, and Princess Eugenie who wore three Westwood designs for various elements of the wedding of William and Kate.

“Her innovation and impact over the last 60 years has been immense and will continue into the future.” It also said that The Vivienne Foundation, a not-for-profit company founded by Dame Vivienne, her sons and grand-daughter in late 2022, will launch next year to “honour, protect and continue the legacy of Vivienne’s life, design and activism”.