Vivienne Westwood Riding Skirt
In technicolour tweed
I did not expect to start the year with any incoming shopping parcels, because my husband has ordered me to stop curating and start focusing my energy on other aspects of fashion.
Yet, here we are!
In my defense, my husband approved of this purchase; call it my belated Christmas gift, if you will.
Lo and behold, my first holy grail find of 2025:
Vivienne Westwood’s vintage mini tweed riding skirt is at the top of my wishlist because I adore the unique shape. I was actually looking for one in MacAndreas or MacMara tartan by Lochcarron of Scotland, but those have become crazy expensive by now. I never thought to find this skirt in Blanket tweed by Breanish Tweed because they are incredibly rare, and even more costly than the other two.
Just for fun, this is how the other two look like:
I eventually found a MacAndreas tartan skirt in a different cutting, so I shifted my focus to a MacMara one instead. Imagine my surprise as I was doom-scrolling on Vestiaire Collective last year, I came across this perfect little skirt in great condition, in my size, and within my budget. Even better, it is sold by a fellow countrymen! This is absolutely noteworthy, because where we’re from, we never had a Vivienne Westwood boutique and it isn’t a popular label among local fashion enthusiasts, so finding a vintage piece is truly a miracle by all counts.
Now, back to the skirt’s history!
The colourful patchwork tweed was first introduced in Vivienne Westwood’s Fall/Winter 1996 collection, named “Storm in a Teacup”. Here are the few of the looks with Blanket tweed pattern that walked down the runway:
The print was later reissued in the Vivienne Westwood Red Label Fall/Winter 2011 collection, but the style of the pattern is a bit different, and the fabric was manufactured by Harris Tweed instead.
That pretty much covers its pedigree, so now we can move onto the interesting part; modern dupes!
While I was researching, I found a skirt that I thought was another Vivienne Westwood iteration because she did reissue this skirt in various fabrics and prints throughout the years. But to my surprise, it was actually by Louis Vuitton! It is still available for purchase right this very moment from their Ready-to-Wear Spring/Summer 2025 collection:
To be honest, I’m feeling a teensy bit appalled. They didn’t bother changing anything with the design; the flap pockets, two buttons at the high-waistline, the A-line silhouette. I mean, I get it, it’s a cute skirt that is perfect as it is, but some variation that is aligned to the House’s own aesthetics would be nice!
I thought the only thing different was probably the label…
…until I saw the price tag.
The turquoise skirt is USD3050(!!!) while the black skirt is USD3200(!!!).
I had to pick my jaw up from the floor! Was this made out of Pegasus and unicorn hair?! I MUST find out!
According to their website, this product is called “Tweed Mini Wrap Skirt”. For the turquoise version, the fabric composition is 37% nylon, 30% polyester, 20% cotton, 13% wool, and is made in France. The black version is 32% polyester, 21% wool, 19% cotton, 19% polyamide, 9% silk, and is made in Italy.
In other words, it’s sacrilegious. How can designer tweed skirts have the audacity to not be 100% wool and still be so expensive?!?!?!
For reference, the vintage Vivienne Westwood piece is made in England; 100% pure wool and 100% acetate for the lining. I was lucky enough to pay less than 10% of what Louis Vuitton is charging for these atrocities, can you believe it?
While I always find it fun and interesting when contemporary designers pay homage to old designs or succumb to nostalgia, I still get triggered when the material blend is made up of mostly chemical fibers. I’d expect more from a brand as established as Louis Vuitton, but it seems like constantly thrift-shopping for natural fabrics may have already spoiled me!