When British fashion house Vivienne Westwood came calling, Mumbai’s fashion fraternity eagerly braved the unseasonal drizzle, oppressive humidity and serpentine traffic jams to show up. And, for this date with one of the most enduring, revered and influential names in the design world, they came dressed in their Westwood best — the most telling sign of which was the omnipresence of tartan. And that isn’t surprising considering that tartan was a hallmark of the British designer, who was known for her rebellious take on fashion and ability to “turn the fashion world on its head by merging chaos with high fashion,” notes fashion designer Sanjana Bubber.

Westwood’s fascination with tartan was an outcome of her anti-establishment rhetoric, especially because the fabric was a visual symbol of rebellion — tartan had been banned by the British government in 1746 and only saw widespread acceptance in the 19th Century, adds fashion designer Harshvardhan Rai. “What made Westwood’s take on tartan even more subversive was her maximalist approach, which stood in stark contrast to the more restrained aesthetic of the time. She also fused tartan with sharp English tailoring, to create pieces that were, at once, immaculately crafted but unmistakably her own,” he suggests.