Vivienne Westwood, a famous fashion designer, passed away at the age of 81. Her family was by her side as she went away quietly.

Her wardrobe included fetishistic bondage clothing, enormous platform shoes, and slogan T-shirts. A t-shirt depicting the Queen with a safety pin through the royal lip was famously marketed by Seditionaries.

Eventually, Westwood moved on. Westwood debuted her first catwalk line with McLaren in 1981 when she was 40 years old. The gender-neutral attire brought to mind the heyday of piracy, dandies, highwaymen, and buccaneers. Other British designers including John Galliano and Alexander McQueen later adopted Westwood’s subversive study of traditional tailoring methods.

Vivienne Westwood cause of death: How did Vivienne Westwood die?

Inspiring sources for Westwood during the decade included Keith Haring, “Blade Runner,” and the French Foreign Legion.

She created frocks for ladies with breasts and hips (just ask Nigella Lawson or Marion Cotillard, who both wore Westwood to dramatic effect), flesh-colored tights with modest fig leaves, and her distinctive corsetry worn as outerwear. She also experimented with Harris tweed and tartan.

In 1989, John Fairchild, the editor-in-chief of Women’s Wear Daily at the time, gave his approval. Along with Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld, Giorgio Armani, Christian Lacroix, and Emanuel Ungaro, in his opinion, she was one of the six most important fashion designers of the 20th century.

On his list, Westwood was the only woman, the only Brit, and the only fashion designer whose name did not already command millions of dollars in sales. (According to Jane Mulvagh’s 1998 biography, “Vivienne Westwood: An Unfashionable Life,” she was “essentially bankrupt” in 1989 and still residing in an ex-council flat in South London.)

According to the family, Westwood passed away peacefully with no complications.