One of the earliest proponents of punk fashion, British designer Vivienne Westwood has teamed up with the Palladium — no, not the famed New York venue where rockers Iggy Pop, The Ramones, and Frank Zappa all performed throughout the '70s and which was converted into a nightclub in the mid '80s, eventually housing DJ Junior Vasquez's jam-packed parties in the late '90s, before the venue shut its doors in 1998. The "Palladium" with whom the tartan-loving, pirate boot-rocking, Anglophile style expert Westwood collaborated is the Palladium Alliance International, which connects designers and vendors to suppliers of palladium, a precious white metal belonging to the platinum family and featuring a low melting se result of this collaboration is Westwood's "Get A Life" Palladium Jewelry collection, which exclusively features pieces crafted using palladium.
Through this collection, Westwood hopes to raise awareness about the need for eco-conscious living. After all, palladium has played a vital role as a catalytic converter, helping to reduce the damage from car exhaust emissions by transforming harmful gases like carbon monoxide into less harmful vapors like carbon dioxide, as well as breaking down toxic hydrocarbons into water and carbon dioxide. By relying exclusively on palladium to create this assortment of jewelry, then, Westwood if making a powerful statement, which is only magnified by her choice of nature-based motifs.
The "Get A Life" collection shows a sense of reverence toward the environment via the usage of beautiful objects found in nature — among them the oak tree, which in many ancient European civilizations was believed to harbor a connection to the deities controlling thunder and lightning (Thor allegedly found solace under an oak tree); the acorn, which symbolizes perseverance and strength in many pagan cultures, perhaps the result of the amount of time that must elapse before these tiny nuts surface on the tops of mature oak trees; and the heart, a symbol of lust and love that predates Christianity and has been traced back to ancient Rome.
Pieces include the Pagan Heart Necklace pictured above, a bulky piece with bold, enlarged chain links and a twisted rope chain strand adorned with a bulbous but asymmetrical heart-shaped pendant that looks like it's melting and features cursive writing etched along its surface. Another lovely piece is the Oak Leaf Tiara, an avant-garde hair accessory featuring branches sprouting upward, each adorned with glistening oak leaves for a look worthy of a forest goddess.
To model the pieces in the collection, Westwood chose none other than voluptuous redheaded actress Christina Hendricks, who has brought a Marilyn Monroe-esque sultriness to her role as Joan on AMC's Mad Men series (here's a glimpse of the ad photos featuring Hendricks).
The Vivienne Westwood "Get a Life" Palladium Jewelry Collection is poised to hit Vivienne Westwood boutiques in London and LA this month, so keep your eyes open!
