Getting dressed is nothing short of a family affair for Cora Corré. The 26-year-old granddaughter of the late Dame Vivienne Westwood admits that when you come from a family where each member has an ‘amazing dress sense, but their own unique taste’ opinions run wild. But, of late, she’s found her own.
‘I'm very confident now I've now found my own style,’ she explains from a suite at The Standard on the eve of the ELLE Style Awards in partnership with Tiffany & Co, Moët et Chandon and Snapchat. ‘Everyone wants you to wear something amazing and fab. And that varies. So we kind of have to draw together the options of things that they love and things I love. And, you know, we meet in the middle of what we both love, making sure I feel good, confident and empowered.’
For the return of the ELLE Style Awards, this meeting in the middle resulted in Corré choosing a look from Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood — naturally. ‘It’s beautiful. I’m going to wear a black patent shoe and we’re going to do the same pink under-eye make-up look that they did at the show.’ Her enthusiasm for getting into the look proves that the magic of a Westwood dress never wears thin, even when you have an archive at your disposal.
The chosen look also leans into her grandmother’s ‘biggest rule’ too. Her advice was always ‘dress up’ Corré sweetly shares. ‘And it can be applied to everything.’
Since the passing of Dame Westwood in December 2022, Corré has been somewhat thrust into the limelight as the front-facing spokesperson for the pioneering designer’s legacy, largely through her position at The Vivienne Foundation, which was set up by Dame Westwood and her family. ‘It's something we, really beautifully, and I think very rarely, all worked on together as a family, including with her and seeing her excited and passionate about things to do with The Foundation was really incredible and special,’ Corré shares. ‘I guess we just know that we have to finish her long to-do list, as she had lots of things she wanted to see happen.’
At the awards, Corré was joined by Kronthaler to accept the Lifetime Achievement Award on Dame Westwood’s behalf. For Corré, this award was special in honouring her legacy as a whole life’s work and not just for her revolutionary fashion.
‘It's obviously such an honour to be asked to accept it on her behalf,’ Corré shares. ‘She lived such an incredible life, especially the one she really led outside of fashion in her day to day. I think it is lovely that that is recognised and celebrated through all the different works and walks of life that she was involved with. She lived her life so fully and unapologetically. I think it's an honour that it's a lifetime achievement award specifically because it encompasses all those different channels and things that she loved and did.’
‘She would love that we are collecting it on her behalf,’ she continues smiling. ‘She'd be very happy, but she probably wouldn't believe it.’
Stepping up and into a great public consciousness has come at the right time for Corré. She says that recently she’s felt the force of growing into her confidence as a woman come into full effect. ‘I'm a lot more confident and I think I know myself better. I'm still learning so much about myself and learning from other people, which I think moulds you so much. But I think I've grown into myself a lot more. I think that's the case whether walking down the road to get a coffee, going to the gym, going to work or going to a lovely event, like this evening, where there are so many incredible people. It doesn't differ. It's a general more grounded confidence that I've found.’
And while Corré explained that she was looking forward to celebrating the evening and getting involved in the party, important work to be done will be at the back of her mind.
By the time you are reading this, perhaps on your lunch break, she will be in situ outside of London’s Excel Centre protesting the return of the ‘chilling’ biannual DSEI arms trade exhibition to the capital. Colleagues from across the Westwood business have been invited to join too. ‘We thought it was only right to be there,’ Corré says. ‘My grandmother and I, literally this time two years ago went to protest in torrential rain and she was adamant that she was going. And so we thought this year we would honour that.’ Corré focuses on the significance of the dates with the soon-come London Fashion Week starting on Thursday. ‘It's exactly what she'd want. She used to march there when everyone else was doing fashion week.’ How lucky we are to have her granddaughter continue Dame Westwood’s legacy.
