Vivienne Westwood jewellery arrives at V&A Dundee with archive pieces, Punk opulence, and runway history

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD. Photography by JO METSON SCOTT

Opening on March 26th, 2027, at V&A Dundee, Vivienne Westwood & Jewellery marks the UK debut of a major immersive exhibition dedicated to the house’s singular jewellery legacy. Curated by the Vivienne Westwood team and produced by Nomad Exhibitions, the project gathers four decades of archive and runway jewellery shown together for the first time, tracing how ornament became inseparable from the label’s rebellious visual language.

A jewellery exhibition shaped by punk romance and Scottish heritage

Bringing together archival catwalk looks, jewellery collections, garments, video works, graphic installations, and sound pieces, the exhibition maps the dialogue between adornment and fashion across the house’s history. Jewellery appears not as embellishment, but as attitude: exaggerated pearls, orb motifs, safety-pin references, and regal silhouettes charged with theatricality and defiance.

The project also highlights Scotland’s lasting influence on the house. Alongside jewellery, visitors will encounter garments reflecting Vivienne Westwood’s fascination with tartans, Highland dress, and traditional textiles—elements that became deeply woven into the brand’s aesthetic vocabulary. Andreas Kronthaler has described Scotland as central to both his and Vivienne’s creative imagination, particularly its layered relationship to history, identity, and craft.

An immersive journey through the world of Vivienne Westwood

Conceived as a fully immersive environment, the exhibition examines how historical references, punk iconography, and aristocratic codes collided within Vivienne Westwood jewellery. From anarchic ornamentation to baroque symbolism, the pieces reveal a design language that treated the body as a site of provocation, performance, and self-invention.

Produced by Vivienne Westwood Ltd and Nomad Exhibitions, Vivienne Westwood & Jewellery expands V&A Dundee’s growing fashion programme while offering a rare encounter with one of British fashion’s most distinctive archives through the lens of jewellery, craftsmanship, and radical style.