Vivienne Westwood’s Punk Legacy: Music, Manga, and Modernity
By Wiktoria Iwaniak
The iconic opening lines of the early 2000s anime NANA - ‘Vivienne Westwood, the Sex Pistols, Seven Star cigarettes, coffee with milk and strawberry cake, and lotus flowers. Nana’s favourite things never change’ - became something like holy scripture to young fans, my teenage self included.
The series shaped my aesthetic sensibilities and personal style, largely by introducing me to Vivienne Westwood. Ai Yazawa’s manga/anime serves as a love letter to the designer, with characters dressed head to toe in outfits inspired by her work. I became obsessed with the clothing and jewellery featured in the series, eventually starting my own collection — saving whatever money I had to buy a vintage bag or a pair of earrings.
Vivienne Westwood began designing in the 1970s, her work sparking a decades-long artistic revolution that continues to have a profound impact on fashion and aesthetics today.
Image courtesy of Shueisha.
NANA centres on two twenty-year-old girls, both named Nana, as they navigate early adulthood, exploring themes that speak deeply to the human experience. Ai Yazawa incorporates her love of fashion to express the characters’ personalities and emotions, with Vivienne Westwood’s punk couture, which gained popularity in Japan in the 1990s, forming the basis of her work. Much of the clothing in the series draws directly from Westwood’s late ‘80s and early 90s runway collections, featuring corsets, tartan prints, and structured tailoring. These elements blend punk sensibilities with refined silhouettes, creating high-fashion pieces defined by rebellious elegance.
Nana Osaki and Hachi (Nana Komatsu) represent contrasting depictions of Japanese girlhood, echoing popular subcultures of the time. Nana’s style is grounded in the punk subculture, her ‘femme fatale’ image asserting her identity as an enigmatic singer. Hachi, on the other hand, favours more feminine, Gyaru-inspired fashion. However, as she grows closer to Nana and her bandmates, she begins experimenting with Vivienne Westwood pieces, symbolising her gradual departure from her conventional life path as her priorities and ambitions shift. The contrast between their aesthetics, punk glamour and soft romanticism highlights the tension between the two heroines, whilst also demonstrating the versatility of Vivienne Westwood’s designs, showing how they can be adapted across identities and styles.
(Left) ‘BLAST’ The Black Stones.
(Right) The Sex Pistols.
Images courtesy of Shueisha and The Times.
Nana’s band, the Black Stones, is heavily reminiscent of the Sex Pistols, the face of the British punk scene in the 1970s. Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, her partner at the time and the band’s manager played a key role in shaping its visual identity. Westwood became central to the Sex Pistols iconic image, which mirrored their anarchic, anti-establishment ethos.
A pioneering figure within the punk subculture, Vivienne Westwood infused her alluring designs with social activism and revolutionary sentiments. Through elements such as safety-pin embellishments, bold colours and confrontational prints, she challenged conservative ideals and provoked controversy. Her work became an expression of her unconventional lifestyle and radical worldviews, demonstrating how clothing can reinvent and assert personal identity. The Black Stones’ visual alignment with Westwood’s aesthetic similarly reinforces their punk persona, underscoring the importance of stylistic choices as reflections of character, ideology, and self-expression.
(Left) Sid Vicious in NYC.
(Right) Ren Honjo in concert.
Images courtesy of Sabukaru.
Ren Honjo, Nana’s boyfriend and former guitarist for the Black Stones before joining Trapnest, appears to be a direct homage to Sid Vicious, bassist of the Sex Pistols. Both Sid and Ren frequently wore a leather jacket and a padlock necklace, signature elements of Vivienne Westwood’s early designs. These motifs are particularly associated with the Seditionaries collection, which drew heavily on biker and fetish aesthetics. Ai Yazawa's portrayal of Sid Vicious as a manga character highlights the influence of the Sex Pistols, Vivienne Westwood, and the punk subculture in general on the series’ creation.
By modelling Ren so closely on Sid Vicious, Ai Yazawa further highlights the influence of the Sex Pistols, Vivienne Westwood, and punk in general, throughout NANA. This emphasises how the series reinterprets real figures and fashion into its own narrative and visual identity.
Images courtesy of Sabukaru.
Vivienne Westwood’s accessories made just as strong an impression as the clothing. The image above shows a Japanese magazine product spread featuring items worn by Shinichi Okazaki in the series, including armour rings, ‘rocking horse’ platforms, and his signature limited-edition orb pendant lighter. By showcasing versatile designs that can be incorporated into a wide range of personal styles, this kind of promotional material connects the manga to real life, encouraging fans to purchase the same pieces the characters wear. In doing so, it highlights the power of visual media to shape aesthetic preferences and consumer behaviour.
Image courtesy of Shueisha and Vivienne Westwood.
In 2025, Vivienne Westwood released an exclusive collaboration in honour NANA’s 25th anniversary. The collection featured garments and accessories inspired by outfits from the series, incorporating signature motifs such as tartan, heart shapes, and the iconic orb. Fashion is central to the series’ storytelling, and this collaboration reinforces the distinct personalities of its two protagonists: one confident and daring, the other shy and reserved. Their contrasting styles reflect different expressions of femininity, yet they both embody the essence of Westwood’s designs — a tension between elegance and anarchy. In a recent interview, Ai Yazawa stated, ‘Vivienne has always been, and still is, the creator I respect the most,’ underscoring the enduring admiration and shared legacy between the two.
The punk movement became increasingly mainstream in the 1980s, prompting a shift in Vivienne Westwood’s work. While her designs lost their grittiness and radical political nature, shifting towards a more structured, high-fashion aesthetic, they never fully abandoned the rebellious spirit that defined her early career. This duality of refinement and provocation is precisely what makes her work so influential — and what allows it to resonate powerfully within NANA.
Through Ai Yazawa’s narrative, Westwood’s designs are recontextualised for a new generation, demonstrating how fashion can act as both personal expression and cultural commentary. Vivienne Westwood’s legacy persists into the modern age, shaping not only the fashion industry but also how young people understand identity, style, and self-expression.
Bibliography
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