Photographed by Gabriel Karanfil

PARIS, October 5, 2005 - Vivenne Westwood lived up to her reputation as a living avant-garde legend with a show entitled AR (Active Resistance to Propaganda) staged Tuesday morning in the Louvre. Among the graffiti-encrusted T-shirts ("I am not a terrorist" - presumably printed for the benefit of the Department of Homeland Security) were worked more interesting, if less politically striking, pieces. You could see a courtly, almost 18th century, grace to the wrapping of a strapless evening dress, the folds fixed with a spray of eucalyptus, or to the wafting train of yet another.

Last season, Viv was launching diamonds at the same time she was trying to free the wrongfully imprisoned. This time round she managed to throw dirt with the best of the antiestablishment crowd, while turning out gowns fit for a modern day royal court. Life certainly is full of irony. Vive Viv!

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