Vivienne Westwood to create palladium collection

While perhaps best known for the punk-style apparel she created during the 70s, acclaimed fashion designer Vivienne Westwood actually got her start in fashion by creating her own jewelry. Recently, Westwood has returned to her jewelry roots, creating a limited-edition palladium jewelry collection.

Dubbed "Get A Life," the collection is part of a unique collaboration with Palladium Alliance International (PAI), an organization dedicated to establishing palladium as a luxurious, precious and distinctive metal.

The collection will launch during London Fashion Week in February 2011 and will be available exclusively in Westwood's London and Los Angeles boutiques this spring.

According to PAI, Westwood has long used her fashion designs as a vehicle for communicating ideas, and she will continue to do so through her bespoke palladium collection. Designs from the collection are inspired by nature and symbols from paganism, with an acorn, oak tree and heart all featured prominently to represent strength, luck, power and hope for change.

"Get a Life is about how we stop climate change and therefore preserve life for the next generation while at that same time get a better life," said Westwood. "My focus at the moment is what one person can do. Stop climate change. Save the planet."

John Stark, chairman for PAI, said the organization turned to the designer because of her "continued exploration and reinterpretation of history, combined with a tireless individualism which has cemented her reputation as the U.K.'s most culturally significant fashion designer."

Those attributes, Stark said, "make her the perfect for the brand, and her designs will complement our metal."

Discovered in 1803, palladium is a naturally white and light metal that PAI says is more precious than silver and whiter than platinum.

Through initiatives such as the launch of Westwood's Get A Life collection, PAI is actively marketing palladium and its unique qualities. The organization will continue to do so this spring by rounding up student designers in New York City and London to showcase their talents with the metal. In New York, students from the Fashion Institute of Tehcnology's Jewelry Design Program will collaborate with top fashion and lifestyle bloggers to design a collection of palladium jewelry. Meanwhile, students at London's Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design are participating in a design competition to create a two-piece set of jewelry. The five most inspirational designs will be produced in a limited edition using palladium.