Resources in Unlikely Places – Story Behind Vivienne Westwood’s “ORB”
The first place all designers and creatives start, is from inspiration. But where does that inspiration lie? Where does it start? Sure, we can research historic or cultural fashion and artifacts, costume exhibits, places, exotic locales, the work of other designers or artists… the list goes on.
What I believe is that inspiration is everywhere if you are open to it. We cannot just be looking for a certain type of inspiration, instead one must go about their life noticing the beauty and details behind the things they come across. Someone once told me that inspiration could not exist without exploration, and it has stayed with me since.
Vivienne Westwood’s iconic Orb is a great example of this. Back in 1986, around a year after her split with Malcom McClaren, Westwood was taking a hiatus in Italy. Designer Elio Fiorucci had even lent her a studio of his to work in for her upcoming collection. The theme was royalty with a futuristic touch.
Before Westwood had left for Italy, she had been shown some astronomy magazines by her son. She had seen photos of “computer enhanced images of galaxies, the event horizon of black holes, articles about ‘Deep Sky’ photography, and photos of the planet Saturn with its ring system.” These were her inspiration when designing the Orb. To incorporate the futuristic feel for this, she decided a satellite ring could help to mimic Saturn.
At the same time in Italy, now business manager Carlo D’Amario saw the orb and told Westwood it was the perfect design for her. Already paying for someone else to make her a logo at the time, the emblem also was great representation of her brands underlying image and the truth of Westwood’s designs. The idea of taking traditions into the future, referencing youth culture of past and present. With all signs pointing to yes, the logo was born. It has been present on all collections since.
As creatives, we always have to be open to shifting our vision and our mindset. If we limit ourselves to one idea, one emotion, one thought process, our work will be limited. Sometimes the smallest, most unlikely things can inspire the most important pieces of art we will know. We just need to always be open to it and trust that there will always be something that will help to inspire us.
References:
Westwood World. (2013, June 6). The Orb. Retrieved from Vivienne Westwood: https://blog.viviennewestwood.com/the-orb-2/