Vivienne Westwood SS14: Chime for change

Vivienne Westwood doesn't just make clothes; she makes statements. And her SS14 collection was the vehicle of communication for her latest message on climate change. On the seat of each guest there was a petition addressed to Ban-Ki Moon, which the designer asked everyone to sign and which aimed to help climate refugees. As the show began and the lights went down, a tall figure with wild hair wearing a sweeping medieval gown crouched down beneath a single spotlight. It was Lily Cole, and she danced an evocative Dance of Death, spraying clouds of dust this way and that, maniacal and intense. It was meant to represent Hans Christian Anderson's deadly tale of the Red Shoes, which in turn was Westwood's message of the death of our planet if we continue to dance all over it. It was powerful stuff, and the clothes - slogan tees, garden posy dresses and her trademark deconstructed tailoring - reinforced the message: they were classic pieces to keep, not things to throw away when the new season came. It's a lesson we should sit up and take notice of.