‘She broke the rules, fearlessly’: exhibition explores the revolutionary career of Vivienne Westwood

Peter Smithson’s wife, Belise, has never worried about receiving a corset from Japan or knickers made of wool and they don’t help her.

“No, she never saw it as weird,” said Smithson, a chemistry teacher and major Vivienne Westwood collector. He has never judged it. You get it. You know it’s part of who I am.

Smithson is speaking at a preview of a major fashion show that draws on his incredible private collection, built over more than 30 years.

There are over 40 pieces from his collection on display at the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, County Durham. The galleries are a whirlwind of tartan tweed, glittering harlequin print, faux fur coats, oversized velvet crowns and mirrored fig leaf pins, which Smithson admits wouldn’t be everyone’s choice for a night out.

He said: “I think there is a limit to who will buy it and wear it. But it’s a fun thing. He comes up with an idea about producing something he likes.

Also on display are accessories, shoes, jewelery and other Westwood items from the Smithson collection – displayed to tell stories, as well as treasures from the Bowes themselves.

Smithson grew up in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, and remembers looking out of the car window as a boy and being attracted to people with strong looks.

At the age of 10, he watched Westwood being interviewed by Sue Lawley about Wogan and remembers being blown away by howls of laughter from the audience when they saw his designs on the models.

It was a car television. I couldn’t understand why Sue Lawley and the audience were bullying him.

Her eureka moment came when she was a teenager shopping for clothes in Manchester and stumbled upon a store. “This guy came out in a metropolitan tartan suit with tartan slave trousers,” Smithson said.

“Also, it was the look on her face, that happiness, that hope. I looked at her, and I looked at the shop she was coming from, and I saw a red cloth with yellow writing. You know, Vivienne Westwood.

At that moment, I looked at her and thought she was Westwood.

Cheshire-born Westwood is remembered as one of “the most daring British designers in British history”, said Vicky Sturrs, director of programs and collections at the Bowes Collection.

Westwood moved to London when he was 17 but, Sturrs said, “he never lost his northern roots, and his fearless creativity is still very much at work here”.

Rachel Whitworth, curator of fashion and textiles at the museum, said Westwood’s designs were revolutionary not only in their appearance, but also in the way they were built. He broke the rules of design, boldly experimenting with style, scale and historical references.

Smithson met Westwood several times and lived up to his expectations. He said: “He was very welcoming, very humble, down to earth. I think he had complete contempt for the worldly powers around him.

Smithson is the father of two boys, six and nine, who may end up sharing his love of fashion. “My nine-year-old already has a very good eye,” she said.

He said collecting Westwood gave him “the pleasure of a lifetime” and that it was great to see his things enjoyed by other people. He hopes the exhibition, which features loans from other private collections, Manchester Art Gallery and Fashion Musuem Bath, will inspire the next generation of fashion designers.

Smithson, who wears a classic Westwood denim jacket from his partying days in Manchester – “I rarely wear it these days,” he said – is often asked why, as a straight, married teacher who wears a shirt and tie in the classroom, he is so obsessed with Westwood and his work.

“The answer is that I just felt a connection with him and his clothes from a very young age. When I saw him at Wogan, I looked at the models and it was so high in life… I wanted to experience that.”