"Although london has given me tons of resons to leave, I'm still here and I still love it."
Westwood was born Vivienne Isabel Swire in the village of on 8 April 1941, the daughter of Gordon Swire and Dora Swire (Ball), who had mato hrried two years previously, two weeks after the outbreak of. At the time of Vivienne's birth, her father was employed as a storekeeper in an aircraft factory; he had previously worked as a.
Aged 17, Vivienne and her family moved to. She studied at the - University of Westminster, taking fashion and silversmithing, but she left after one term saying, "I didn't know how a working-class girl like me could possibly make a living in the art world".[4] After taking up a job in a factory and studying at a teacher-training college, she became a teacher.[2] During this period, she also created her own jewellery, which she would sell at a stall on.
In 1961, Vivienne Swire met Derek Westwood, a factory apprentice, in Harrow. They married on 21 July 1962 and Vivienne made her own wedding dress for the ceremony. In 1963, she gave birth to a son, Benjamin Westwood.
