Andreas Kronthaler (born 26 January 1966) is an Austrian creative director and design partner. He is the widower of the late fashion designer

Vivienne Westwood Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood (née Swire; born 8 April 1941) is an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. Westwood came to public notice when she m ...

Early life

Kronthaler was born in

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

, Austria. In 1980, he went to Ortwein art school in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

, Austria, where he spent five years training to be a

jeweler A bench jeweler is an artisan who uses a combination of skills to make and repair jewelry. Some of the more common skills that a bench jeweler might employ include antique restoration, silversmith, Goldsmith, stone setting, engraving, fabrica ...

. During this time, he began to experiment with fashion, making clothes at home to be sold to friends and in local stores. He studied Industrial Design at the

University of Applied Arts Vienna The University of Applied Arts Vienna (german: Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, or informally just ''Die Angewandte'') is an arts university and institution of higher education in Vienna, the capital of Austria. It has had university sta ...

and switched to fashion design.

Career

In 1988, Kronthaler met Vivienne Westwood while she was teaching fashion design at the Vienna School of Applied Art. In 1989, he moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to work for her firm. Their first joint collection was the Spring–Summer 1991 collection: ''Cut and Slash''. In this collection, Kronthaler presented

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

-inspired gowns – later named the ''Sun Wheel'' dress. Kronthaler and Westwood married in 1992. They continued to develop collections together. They were married until Westwood's death on 29 December 2022. For the wedding of the imprisoned journalist and founder of

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...

Julian Assange Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks came to international attention in 2010 when it published a series of leaks provided by U.S. Army inte ...

to Stella Morris in March 2022 in

Belmarsh Prison His Majesty's Prison Belmarsh is a Category-A men's prison in Thamesmead, south-east London, England. The prison is used in high-profile cases, particularly those concerning national security. Within the prison grounds there is a unique unit ca ...

, the groom wore an outfit based on a Scottish kilt and the bride a dress with a graffiti application, both designs by Kronthaler and his wife, Vivienne Westwood.

Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood

While Kronthaler initially was a silent design partner and creative director, in 2016 Westwood acknowledged his commitment and influence on the ''Gold Label'' collection over 25 years by renaming the line ''Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kronthaler, Andreas Living people 1966 births People from Tyrol (state) University of Applied Arts Vienna alumni Austrian fashion designers