Vivienne Westwood sits in her modest Clapham studio, drags on a Marlboro Red and starts talking about her friends. She adores Kate Moss, Jerry Hall, Georgia Jagger and Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty, but singles out Naomi Campbell, who famously fell off a pair of Westwood platform shoes, for special praise. “She’s so full of good, positive things,” the designer says. “She’s got such a heroic and spontaneous attitude to life and she’s so honest. She tells you everything. I’d do anything for her and she always ends up doing anything for me.”

The supermodel’s latest favour involved posing for Westwood’s enormous new book of portraits of more than 50 friends and family members. It’s a monumental tome in every sense. Nearly a metre high, each picture measuring 50cm by 60cm, it was shot using the world’s largest Polaroid camera. “It’s so big the people had to come to the camera, not the other way round,” explains Westwood’s husband, the handsome Andreas Kronthaler. Getting Campbell along to the shoot was not without drama. “Everything with her is so provisional,” says Westwood. “She kept phoning to say she really wanted to do it.” But, true to form, she was late. “We were supposed to start at 6.30am. She only had one hour because there was a helicopter waiting. She was going to Italy to see that motor-racing man, Flavio Briatore,” says Westwood in her soft Derbyshire lilt. Campbell eventually arrived two hours late (not bad for her), flew in like a rocket, flung on an outfit and began posing. It’s a snapshot of a life lived at full speed. Westwood’s admiration for Campbell’s energy meant she forgave any tardiness. “She enjoyed herself with us, then she was late for the next thing. That’s why she’s late, because she fits so much into a day. Kate Moss said she couldn’t cope when they were hanging out, because they always had to get up so early to do this, that and the other.”

Moss, whose earliest catwalk appearances were for Westwood, was also eager to pose for the book. And she was faithful to her reputation for partying hard, yet still appearing fabulous for the camera. According to Westwood, she arrived looking more like a skinny Vicky Pollard than a supermodel. “She came in with a cigarette, a can of lager and some chips – she’s not bothered about anorexia,” says Westwood wryly.

A quick spell in hair and make-up transformed Moss, the lager-swilling chip-muncher, into Moss, the icon. Westwood describes how, after the first picture was taken, Moss studied her own image intently. “She’s very shy, and every time she does a shot, she needs to know if that magic is working on the picture or not. Maybe she doubts herself. She needs to see this ‘thing’ emerge. It is amazing, because she’s a little skinny girl before she’s photographed, but in pictures, she becomes larger than life.”

Another favourite person is long-time Westwood fan Jerry Hall. “She’s the most simple woman,” says Kronthaler. “She is so direct. There are no complications.” It’s Hall’s gracious southern-belle style and innate glamour, though, that Westwood admires the most. She recalls with delight how Hall would never even think about stepping onto the catwalk without spritzing herself with perfume first.

“I remember the first time Jerry modelled for me in Paris. I was at a party and Mick introduced me to her. He said, ‘Why doesn't Jerry model in your show?’ And that was it. We were being interviewed backstage and she was asked why she was doing my show. She said, ‘Ma husband got me the job.’ She made me more important than her. She’s so generous.”

The pair are firm friends and the designer has not only watched Hall’s family grow up and blossom, she has helped them along the way. Lizzy Jagger made her catwalk debut for Westwood, and now it is the turn of Hall’s youngest daughter, Georgia May, to take centre stage. At just 16, with that unmistakable Jagger pout, she has recently signed up with a model agency. The pictures taken for Westwood’s book are among the first in her portfolio.

“Georgia, she makes me laugh. I’ve never seen such a sexy face in my life,” Westwood says. “And I remember her as a little girl of four years old. She always had an amazing face. She’s not tall, like her mother, but she’s got wonderful proportions.”

The book is a celebration of Westwood’s world and the people who populate it, from children and grandchildren to long-time friends such as Tracey Emin and Bob Geldof. It reflects her taste for voluptuous vamps, defiant beauties and gorgeous ingénues, and proves that what makes a fashion label great is not just the clothes, but the people who wear them.

The Vivienne Westwood Opus (Kraken Opus £1,400) is available in a limited edition of 900 copies; 020 7213 9587. The portraits are on display at Scream gallery, 34 Bruton Street, W1, until Saturday.

We've teamed up with Kraken Opus to offer one lucky reader the chance to win a limited edition Vivienne Westwood Opus, signed by the designer. Click here for details

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