First look at Get a Life: The Diaries of Vivienne Westwood

Fashion icon Dame Vivienne Westwood is releasing a book of her personal diaries today, and Hot Press has gotten the chance to take a first look at the designer and activist's thoughts. Taken from journals documenting her life from 2010 to the present, Get a Life includes tales of Westwood's fight to end climate change with her organisation Climate Revolution. Her experiences include travelling to the Amazon to raise awareness of local tribes' efforts to keep the rainforest alive, and even driving a tank to David Cameron's house as a protest against fracking. The book contains transcripts of her personal writings, and, in some cases, self-captioned photographs. The book also contains full-colour photographs including portraits, sketches, and personal photos from her worldwide wanderings.

Along with her political and environmental efforts, Westwood also writes about her philosophies as an artist and an art lover, saying: "How fulfilling it is once you realise how relevant art is to your life. It helps you understand the world. Why don't you dress up and go out with a friend? You get out what you put in- Get a Life!"

Westwood also examines her own definition of punk, as she was asked to define what the style means to her for an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. "Since punk collapsed for me with the death of Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols, I have been contemptuous of the movement in general and in particular of its token rebels and career gurus who claim social significance for it," she reflects. I think they're all posers. I realised that it wasn't enough, jumping around in safety pins and a 'Destroy' t-shirt. You need ideas to be subversive. That's why the movement folded: the punks didn't have any ideas because the ideas don't come on a plate- you have to get them yourself by becoming engaged with the world and its past."

Westwood launches the book at a handful of events around the U.K. Details can be found below.

Book Tour:

In conversation with Deborah Orr, Friday 14 October 7pm, Waterstones Piccadilly, London.
In conversation with Kirsty Wark, Sunday 16 October 12:45pm, Cheltenham Literature Festival
In conversation with Lucy Seigle, Friday 21 October 7:30pm, Manchester Literature Festival