Vivienne Westwood’s granddaughter, Cora Corré, resigned from her role as campaign manager at the late designer’s label on Tuesday (October 22, 2024). In a letter sent to staff, she accused CEO Carlo d’Amario of bullying Westwood during the final years of her life. Designer Andreas Kronthaler, 58, who was married to Westwood at the time of her death in December 2022, has carried on as the label’s sole creative director.
Corré’s resignation letter was preceded by complaints originating from the label’s foundation, Vivienne Foundation, which was disgruntled by Vivienne Westwood’s collaboration with Palace Skateboards because it reference archival designs the foundation views as possessing rightful ownership of.
In a post on the foundation’s Instagram feed, the organization wrote, “It is a great shame that for their recent collaboration with Palace, the VW company has decided to base the designs on Vivienne’s archive without consulting the Foundation. This shows a blatant disregard for Vivienne’s wishes, her legacy and the Foundation.”
The letter noted, “We understand that Palace entered into the collaboration with VW company in good faith and they were not aware of this situation. However it is very unfortunate that this has been allowed to happen and we hope that under the circumstances the parties involved will do the right thing, and honour Vivienne’s wishes.”
The foundation is managed by Westwoods’s surviving relatives, including Corré, who has been a director at the organization since April. Corré has claimed that Westwood transferred all intellectual property and copyrights to the foundation before she died.
It’s rumored that D’Amario has contested the foundation’s trademark and has prevented it from holding events or fundraising in Westwood’s name.
Management for Vivienne Westwood hasn’t provided any comment on the foundation’s letter.
Check out Vivienne Foundation’s entire letter below.
