Vivienne Westwood The rebel who was never without a cause

Dame Vivienne Westwood, who died last week aged 81, was a very British kind of genius. She was as down to earth as she was flamboyant, a former primary school teacher who came to shape punk culture. Her clothes were bracingly modern - rips and safety pins, latex and androgyny - but steeped in a love of history. (She had a particular weakness for kilts and corsets.) Her clothes were worn by everyone from Theresa May to Chrissie Hynde, from Princess Eugenie to Pharrell Williams.

- Jess Cartner-Morley

She was a rebel, but never without a cause, tirelessly raising awareness of the climate emergency years before it was fashionable.

The last time I had lunch with Westwood, a couple of years ago, she wore a chic silk scarf at her throat, which she fastened with an Extinction Rebellion badge. I was supposed to be interviewing her about her fashion legacy, but she was not remotely interested in discussing clothes.

Instead, she talked passionately about the inequity of modern capitalism, and of the threat posed by populist politicians to progress in protecting the environment.

Westwood's heart had moved on from fashion in the last decade of her life, which she devoted to political causes. But fashion never fell out of love with Vivienne Westwood.