Vivienne Westwood 🔹Blue Rosette Orb Tartan Charm 🔹

When I, as a Westwood enthusiast, think of a rosette, the first thing that comes to mind is Vivienne Westwood's pirate hat.

Photo: Robyn Beeche

The pirate hat with the rosette is part of the Looks from Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s Autumn/Winter 1981–82 “Pirate” collection. And oh boy, I love the post-punk maximalism from that era.

But of course, a cockade also reminds me of the typical attire of a French revolutionary or sans-culotte: a cap with a tricolor cockade, a jacket, patched trousers and buckled shoes.

Probably my personal visualization of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.

Furthermore, a Scottish cockade is a traditional knot of ribbon or rosette, often white, worn on the bonnet as a symbol of loyalty and is primarily associated with the Jacobite uprisings in support of the Stewart kings. 

Historically common in the 18th/19th-century Europe, the rosette usually represented revolution (e.g., French tricolor), political or social allegiance, or a military rank.

Rosettes are constructed using pleated, folded, or gathered ribbons, frequently with a button or similar center decoration.

My Vivienne Westwood charm was made in Kenia and is truly a grand Orb Cockade from the Queen of Punk, featuring a large metal orb logo in the centre of the tartan rosette. The rosette can be clipped to your handbag, accessories or clothes, such as a button hole on a suit jacket or simply worn on a length of ribbon.  

An update on how I integrate my cockade into my outfits will follow soon..