A conflict between the label’s commercial interests and the late designer’s anti-capitalist values is threatening to tear the company apart. The battle over the Vivienne Westwood brand is intensifying. In an email to Vivienne Westwood staff seen by WWD, the late iconic designer’s granddaughter Cora Corré called for the longtime chief executive officer Carlo D’Amario to be fired, and accused him of bullying her late grandmother, the company’s founder and creative heart.
In the email, Corré claimed D’Amario’s “behavior towards employees, his mismanagement, his lack of basic corporate discipline and communication brings enormous shame and reputational damage” to the company. Corré, the daughter of Westwood’s younger son Joe Corré and Serena Rees, has also accused D’Amario of hampering the work of the Vivienne Foundation, a not-for-profit founded by the designer, and of failing to pay royalties on the sale of her designs. The model and activist said she wants Westwood company directors to “take action where they have the power to do so. The first step is removing Carlo D’Amario from his position as CEO.”
Earlier this week, Corré revealed separately that she was quitting Vivienne Westwood to focus her attention on the foundation. She said her position at the fashion company had become “untenable.” While Corré would like to see Vivienne Westwood Ltd. and the foundation work in harmony, she believes it will not be possible as long as D’Amario remains CEO. “It has now been two years and despite our best efforts, not a single conversation has been instigated by the VW Company with The Foundation. This breakdown in communication has brought me so much sadness. I really cannot see the possibility of a harmonious relationship between the company and the foundation at this point in time,” Corré said in an Instagram post earlier this week.
In the email to staff she also alleged that D’Amario trademarked “The Vivienne Foundation” in a manner that effectively blocks it from fundraising and holding charitable events. One of the aims of the foundation is to raise money for, and partner with, human rights and environmental NGOs. Corré claimed that D’Amario has “set his sights on destroying [Westwood’s] charitable legacy in bad faith, and on restricting the work of the Foundation. I believe Vivienne would wish for these details to be brought to light so that those who have tarnished her legacy can be exposed, and action can be taken.” She also accused D’Amario of ignoring the late designer’s intellectual property rights.
Before her death, Westwood transferred her creative estate to the foundation, including her copyrights and intellectual property such as designs, artwork, works of art, writings, diaries, notes, drawings and other material. The rights also include new designs made since the formation of the foundation, and everything that Westwood designed or created prior to 1993, before the Vivienne Westwood Ltd. company was formed. “The VW company continues to produce and make profits from [her] designs, without paying any royalties, or having any agreement to do so. This is particularly evident in Vivienne’s jewelry designs, which provide a substantial portion of the company’s revenue,” said Corré. She claimed that senior management had “repeatedly promised” her grandmother until her death that the issue of royalties would be resolved, “and yet she has been betrayed and disrespected. This cannot be allowed to continue unchallenged.”
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