"Vivienne Westwood: The Personal Collection" comprises more than 250 clothing and accessory items, most of which were runway looks before being worn by the designer herself.

The collection features some of her most iconic designs, including corsets, tartan patterns, billowing taffeta gowns, platform heels and T-shirts bearing political slogans.

The online sale hosted by Christie's in London and will include a live auction.

The lots include custom-designed playing card prints intended to shed light on issues such as climate change, social inequality and human rights.

Ten have been enlarged and signed by Westwood, who died in 2022 aged 81, to raise funds for Greenpeace.

Other proceeds will be donated to charities including Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and the designer's own Vivienne Foundation, which works with NGOs "to create a better society and halt climate change".

The collection's cataloguer and sale coordinator, Clementine Swallow, told AFP that "Vivienne's Playing Cards" were the catalyst for a larger charity auction.

Although Westwood "knew she wasn't going to be able to see the project out... she had the wish that her personal wardrobe would be sold to benefit other charities important to her", Swallow said.

Westwood's widower Andreas Kronthaler, 58, has been closely involved in the sale. "He's personally put together each of the lots to be an outfit she would have worn," Swallow said.

"These are the items that she chose to have, of the many thousand things that she designed over 40 years," she said. "They are the kinds of things that she felt were the epitome of her designs."

- Sustainability -

The collection includes a number of pieces that illustrate Westwood's cultural impact, and the wide range of influences she drew from in her four-decade career.

The earliest piece is a 1983 navy jacket-and-skirt ensemble from the "World's End, Witches" Autumn-Winter 1983 collection, when Westwood was still in collaboration with her first husband and manager of the Sex Pistols, Malcolm McLaren.

Westwood was influenced by British history but gave classic designs a provocative edge, Swallow said, noting in particular a taffeta ball gown with "bondage-style black wrappings".

Many of the clothes feature political graphics and slogans that reflected Westwood's advocacy of social justice.

"A big part of Vivienne's identity is activism... She really is one of those designers who took their clothes and used them as a mouthpiece to voice her ideas and political opinions," Swallow said.

Other collection highlights include Westwood's signature pink tartan pattern and a cropped blue jacket identical to the one worn by supermodel Naomi Campbell during a notorious incident when she fell on the catwalk while wearing 12-inch (30-centimetre) Westwood platforms.

There are also early examples of the designer's elasticated corsets.

Sustainability and ethical fashion are also key themes -- The most expensive piece is a cut-out illusion gown hand stitched with intricate beading and gold panelling, created with artisans and craftspeople in Kenya.

All materials used in the exhibition are recycled or recyclable, including cardboard signage and plywood stands.

"It's been a great lesson for us, (proving that) we can do recyclable exhibitions," Swallow said.

Collection items are listed at £200 to £7,000 ($255 to $9,000) but are expected to fetch much more given Westwood's reputation.

Museums and other institutions are expected to bid but Swallow said the designer "loved the idea that (her clothes) might be worn by real people".

"The idea that they might have another life is wonderful," she said.

str/phz/js

© Agence France-Presse

Campbell was such a fixture on catwalks in the 1990s that she was referred to by her first name only, just like fellow supermodels Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista.

She remains a highly influential figure in the industry and is the first supermodel to have a V&A exhibition dedicated to her.

The "NAOMI In Fashion" show, which opens, explores the dozens of looks that have marked the history of fashion during Campbell's 40-year career.

Born in 1970, Campbell saw herself as a dancer, like her mother, when she was a child.

Aged 15, an agent spotted her in London's Covent Garden and two years later she had already appeared on several fashion magazine covers and in shows in New York, Milan and Paris.

- 'Peerless' -

Some have questioned the choice of the V&A, a revered art and design museum, to dedicate an exhibition to a model.

But curator Sonnet Stanfill said: "The best fashion models are not simply models. They serve as creative inspiration and they are creative collaborators.

"Naomi Campbell's peerless walk and her alchemy in front of the camera are the stuff of fashion legend," she added.

Stanfill interviewed the model for hours as part of her preparation for the exhibition.

"She has an incredible memory. She remembers where she was when she was wearing something, who she was with, where she went out that night," she added.

She was also allowed to dig through Campbell's personal collection, including accessories, photos, clothes and even Concorde tickets between London and New York.

A section is dedicated to the great fashion designer Azzedine Alaia, who died in 2017, with whom she lived from the age of 16 when she was in Paris and whom she called "papa".

He found a muse in what he called her "perfect body".

Campbell also praises designer Yves Saint Laurent in the show, whom she said "really helped women of colour and changed the course of my career".

"God bless Yves," she added in quotes that appear on the label describing the feather dress the London-born model wore for a 1987 autumn/winter show -- her first for the French designer.

Saint Laurent famously threatened to withdraw his advertising from Vogue if it did not place Campbell on the front of its French magazine in 1988. As a result, she became its first black cover star.

The show also features magazine front-pages projected onto the wall and video broadcasts of her best-known shows for the biggest fashion houses.

Designer Vivienne Westwood's 1993-era look, which required Campbell to wear 15-centimetre (six-inch) platform shoes, is also on display.

The shoes infamously led to her taking a tumble on the catwalk, with the picture of her laughing after her fall from grace going around the world, helping to soften her icy image.

- Pioneering -

Campbell did have a reputation for her temper. In 2007, she was sentenced to five days of community service in New York after having thrown her phone at an assistant.

The paparazzi were waiting every morning she turned up for her community service, and a symbol of her defiance is featured in the exhibition.

"When the last day came, I decided I wanted to walk out and leave with my head held up high. I chose to wear this," she said, pointing to a Dolce & Gabanna evening dress.

But it is her pioneering work in opening up the industry to black models, which began in 1988 when she campaigned for equal pay, that underpins the exhibition.

While this is a retrospective, Campbell, now 54, continues to model, recently appearing on the catwalk for Burberry.

The exhibition ends with tips on how to "walk like Naomi", with a podium set up for budding supermodels to practice on.

"Shoulders back... move with the music" and "focus your gaze on the camera," she advises.

ctx/jwp/phz/jj

© Agence France-Presse

Feline tickets for night's event sold out within days, as Shanghai's devoted pet owners seized the chance to share an educational experience with their animals -- and share the photos on the mostly pedigree cats' personal social media accounts.

One pet owner told AFP she had postponed a trip to Europe to ensure she could nab one of the 200 available tickets for her regal ginger "son".

Trump -- named for his physical and psychological resemblance to the US presidential candidate -- was dressed as a Chinese emperor, and blinked haughtily as journalists flocked around him with cameras.

"I cannot imagine my life right now without a cat," his owner Amy told AFP. "So I really can have the same feeling why Egyptian persons, they valued cats on such a level."

The number of pets in China has soared, reaching over 120 million in 2023, and cats are the most popular.

The trend is being driven largely by younger generations, many of whom see their "furred kids" as a cheaper substitute for human children, experts say.

Shanghai Museum is capitalising on that interest -- Saturday's event, heralded as a first in China, is just one of 10 planned cat nights.

As the guests of honour filed in, perched on shoulders or peering out of handbags, they had their vaccination and insurance records checked before they were transferred into a fleet of specially designed kitten-eared prams.

Claire, who had dressed herself and her German Rex Tiedan in matching Egyptian costumes, said the exhibition showed "cats have always been humans' good friends".

"Now young people are under great pressure, cats help us relieve a lot of mental pressure... probably the same as in ancient times," she said.

Cats were considered sacred in ancient Egypt, and associated in particular with Bast, a goddess of fertility, birth, and protection.

"In the modern world, kitties are a symbol of cuteness, which is very different from (ancient Egypt)," said a young woman named Feifei, clutching a resplendent white furball named Sticky Rice.

That cuteness has led to a surge in feline influencers and hopefuls.

Many of the cats at the exhibition had their own social media accounts, and one or two appeared to have small teams helping produce content.

A section on Saqqara, a historic necropolis where archaeologists recently unearthed dozens of cat mummies and artefacts from a newly discovered tomb, was filled with confused mews as the star visitors were photographed next to a Bast statue.

"There are many ancestors of cats here, I wanted to bring (Sticky Rice) to have a look," said Feifei.

Like most of his fellow felines, Sticky Rice seemed largely unmoved by the historical experience.

reb/mtp

© Agence France-Presse

Kimono-clad ghosts with bloody eyes convulse in agony and lurch towards visitors at one spooky establishment in Tokyo, roaming around groaning like zombies.

Summer is closely associated with the dead in Japan, because it is believed that ancestral souls return to their household altars during the mid-August "obon" holiday.

So a visit to a haunted house is seen as a refreshing respite from the season's often stultifying heat and humidity -- thanks to both modern air-conditioning and the less tangible chills sent down one's spine.

Emerging from the dimly lit attraction at the indoor theme park Namjatown, 18-year-old Misato Naruse told AFP she had come there with her friend Himari Shimada "to get cool".

"I broke out in a cold sweat without even realising. That's how scared I was, I guess," the university student said beside a drained and speechless Shimada, also 18.

Japanese summers are getting harder to bear, partly because of climate change.

"Last year it was very hot but this year it feels even hotter. And I wonder how much hotter it will be in a few years' time," Naruse said.

This year, Japan sweltered through its hottest July since records began 126 years ago, with temperatures in the country 2.16 degree Celsius higher than average.

In central Tokyo alone, 123 people died of heatstroke last month, when extreme heatwaves fuelled by climate change saw a record number of ambulances mobilised in the capital, according to local authorities.

- 'Chilling the liver' -

Many haunted houses in Japan play up to their refreshing reputation by using slogans such as "a shudder that blows away the summer heat".

The idea can perhaps be traced back to the Japanese traditional theatre form of kabuki, according to Hirofumi Gomi, who has worked behind-the-scenes as a producer of haunted house experiences for three decades.

Lore has it that a few centuries ago, kabuki theatres struggled to lure spectators in summer because many loathed being crammed inside without air-conditioning.

But that changed when performers swapped sentimental human drama for full-on horror -- aided by various tricks and contraptions, similar to a modern-day haunted house.

"For patrons wilting under the heat, dazzling visual effects and gripping ghost tales were more bearable than the subtleties of human-interest stories," Gomi said.

"So maybe haunted houses don't so much cool you down as make you forget the heat momentarily."

At the Namjatown haunted house, which is meant to evoke an abandoned, spirit-infested town, organisers are confident about the scary tricks up their sleeves.

"In Japanese, we say 'kimo ga hieru', or literally 'chilling the liver' -- a reference to the sensation of getting goosebumps," Hiroki Matsubara, of operator Bandai Namco Amusement, told AFP.

"We believe visitors can experience the feeling of being scared, surprised or 'chilled to the liver', which will hopefully help them enjoy a cool feeling in summer."

tmo/kaf/mtp

© Agence France-Presse

Blink and you'll miss it, speed climbing has a claim to be the most exhilarating sport at the Paris Games. The 100m sprint? Pedestrian in comparison, taking almost twice as long.

In many ways, speed climbing is similar to the Olympic blue riband event, just vertical.

Competitors scramble up a 15-metre-high (49-foot) wall at a five-degree incline, straining every sinew to be first to tap a red button at the top.

At the knock-out stages, which took place Wednesday, two climbers race up identical courses side-by-side with 20 handholds and 11 footholds to help them to the top.

US sprinter Noah Lyles famously showed in the men's 100m final that Olympic glory can come down to thousandths of a second.

Speed climbing is no different, China's Deng Lijuan scraping though her quarter-final in 6:369sec, six thousandths of a second ahead of her rival.

With so little separating the climbers, one tiny slip means the end of your Olympic journey.

The bronze medal match saw Indonesia's Rajiah Sallsabillah lose her footing for a fraction of a second and with it the chance of a medal.

- 'Sky's the limit' -

Aleksandra Miroslaw from Poland is the undisputed queen of speed. Like Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, she keeps breaking her own world record, performing this feat eight times over her career.

The 30-year-old destroyed her old world record yet again in qualifying for the Olympic quarter-finals, setting a new time of 6:06sec.

Top seed and red hot favourite Miroslaw cruised through the quarter-final and semi-final relatively untroubled but faced a stiff challenge from Deng in the final.

Gold was won by a fingertip. Deng started marginally quicker but Miroslaw scrambled after her and stretched first for the buzzer, taking it in 6:10sec, the Chinese athlete coming home in 6:18sec.

Overwhelmed with emotion, Miroslaw sank to her knees sobbing before racing into the crowd to embrace her family, as a sizeable Polish crowd waved flags and shouted her name.

"I never thought about the time. I only had one thing in my mind: just run. I didn't even look at the other side, I didn't even know it was close," Miroslaw told reporters.

Could she break the six-second barrier? "I really don't know how fast I can go. The sky's the limit," she said.

- 'Gen-Z sport' -

First introduced at the Tokyo Olympics in a bid to attract a younger audience, sport climbing proved an instant hit and will feature again in Los Angeles in 2028.

"It's a Gen-Z sport," said Fabrizio Rossini, spokesman for the International Federation of Sport Climbing.

"You can fit the whole action into what would be the highlights for another sport, so it's perfect" for the younger generation's shorter attention span.

In Tokyo, the event consisted of three elements, speed, boulder, and lead, the latter two being more methodical and difficult climbs, with athletes battling to get as high up the wall as they can.

For the Paris Games, organisers decided to separate out the speed element, undoubtedly the most spectacular of the climbing disciplines.

This meant Wednesday's medals were the first in Olympic history, with Miroslaw the first-ever Olympic speed climbing champion.

The 6,000-capacity crowd at the sun-baked Le Bourget stadium north of Paris cheered wildly, stamping their feet after every climb, as Coldplay and Taylor Swift hits pumped out.

"The final, it was fantastic. It was absolutely amazing," enthused Brandon Blaser, 49, a real estate developer from Salt Lake City in the United States.

"Just those six seconds is the culmination of everything they've worked for. It was really, really fun to watch," he told AFP.

ric-ces/ea

© Agence France-Presse

"When every moment of your life feels like you're being sold something and the price of said item keeps going up, people will burn out on spending money," Kara Perez, an influencer and financial educator, told AFP.

Social media has long had room only for picture-perfect homes, lavish closets and an abundance of beauty products. But a new trend is sweeping the other way -- urging repurposing, more frugal lifestyles and prioritizing quality over quantity.

Known as "underconsumption core," it spotlights living sustainably and using what you have, a reversal of the excess and wealth that dominates ad-heavy Instagram and TikTok.

"When you get 300 videos on TikTok about people who have 30 Stanley cups, you want to have as many as you can afford. People want to fit in," said Perez, who repurposes jars as cups.

- Consumer fatigue -

A video with over 100,000 views from TikTok user loveofearthco critiqued the tendency toward overconsumption often amplified and encouraged on social media: "I spent money I didn't have on things I didn't need."

Another account, nevadahuvenaars, shared what "normal" consumption looks like: used furniture, a modest closet, decor upcycled from glass bottles, meal prep and a downsized skincare collection.

Despite financial hardships felt particularly by Gen Z and millennials, the US economy is thriving, with record corporate profits and high prices on shelves.

In a way, "that feels almost 'gaslighty' to consumers" amid a period of economic and geopolitical uncertainty, culture and consumer marketing analyst Tariro Makoni told AFP.

She argued that Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) plans commonly adopted by many young adults' budgets exacerbate consumption and represent a distortion in access to wealth.

But years of inflation have forced many to the conclusion that they cannot keep up with the spending habits of those on their social media feeds.

A Google Trends analysis shows US searches for "underconsumption" hit a high point this summer, surfacing alongside queries about "overproduction" and the "Great Depression."

Many young adults have developed a "compulsive behavior to spend down to their last pound on a fashion item," said UK-based influencer Andrea Cheong who recently shared an "underconsumption core" style video of her mending old clothes.

It is an addiction tied to a pressure "to articulate who we are through possessions," Cheong noted.

In contrast, "underconsumption core" breaks from traditional core trends promoted by influencers, who often sell an ever changing purchasing blueprint embodying the latest trend and aesthetic, according to Cheong. She and Makoni agreed that the shift also reflects increased calls for authenticity from content creators.

Now, "conserving is cool" said Makoni -- "we saw very similar patterns after 2008" during the financial crisis.

Over half of Gen Z adults -- age 18 to 27 -- polled in a 2024 survey by Bank of America stated the high cost of living as a top barrier to their financial success, adding that many do not make enough money to live the life they want.

- Sustainability concerns -

"The social media trend of 'underconsumption' is another way for Gen Z to make the most of their money and be environmentally friendly at the same time," said Ashley Ross, head of consumer client experience and governance at Bank of America.

While younger generations worry about making sustainable choices, a lack of financial autonomy drives their decisions.

"Let's be honest, no one's gonna change their GDP for sustainability. We don't live in that world ... The motivation for people to do these things has always been to save money," said Cheong.

But she told AFP "underconsumption" trends ultimately provide the most accessible approach to sustainability for those who seek it. The message is simple: "Buy less, buy better."

Low consumption brick-and-mortar initiatives cast a wider net of profiles and generations.

Anjali Zielinski, 42, joined a "Mending 101" workshop in Georgetown, DC in the hopes of acquiring new skills. She brought her daughter, Mina, seven, along with her.

In addition to providing an outlet to her daughter's creativity, she hopes the craft will teach her the "value of our possessions and the work that goes into them."

nw-mja/adm/jgc

© Agence France-Presse