This Australian summer, The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) will stage a revelatory fashion event that leans on the rebellious side. Titled Westwood | Kawakubo, this world-premiere exhibition will bring two of fashion’s most defiant voices—the late British designer Vivienne Westwood and the enigmatic Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons—together on stage. Notably, this will be the first collaboration between the two powerhouses.
Set to open later this year on December 7, 2025, Westwood | Kawakubo will present over 140 garments, spanning over five decades of design disruption. The exhibition promises to be a thematic and visual exploration of these two iconic—and iconoclastic—figures, who rewrote the rule book on fashion, gender, and identity. While the two were born a year apart, both were self-taught creatives. And thus, they would continuously challenge the forms and functions of clothing, rather than being tied down by conventions. To them, it was all about bringing radical ideals to global runways. This exhibition strives to celebrate this very aesthetic.
“This exhibition celebrates two leading female fashion designers from different cultural backgrounds, who both had strong creative spirits and pushed boundaries,” said Tony Ellwood AM, Director of the NGV. “Westwood | Kawakubo invites audiences to reflect on their enduring legacies and contemplate how fashion can be a vehicle for self-expression and freedom,” adds the director.
The NGV exhibition draws from over 100 pieces in its own fashion and textiles collection, the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, including more than 80 recent acquisitions. Notably, nearly 40 pieces were gifted directly by Comme des Garçons, underlining the significance of the show. International loans include treasures from The Met in New York, the V&A in London, the Palais Galliera in Paris, and the Vivienne Westwood Archive.
The exhibition design mirrors the duality of the show’s subjects, and structures it around the idea of symmetry by presenting Westwood and Kawakubo as distinct yet reflective creative forces. “Like left and right hands,” as NGV describes it. “Symmetrical, but not identical.”
Punk, Politics, and Provocation
Structured across five themes (Punk and Provocation, Rupture, Reinvention, The Body: Freedom and Restraint, and The Power of Clothes), the exhibition will investigate how Westwood and Kawakubo went beyond redefining silhouettes to also restructure ideologies. Underscoring it all will be the designers’ not-so-quiet rebellion against societal norms, be it Westwood’s safety-pinned, leather-clad anti-establishment statements to Kawakubo’s sculptural abstractions and genderless forms.
Early punk-inspired ensembles from Westwood, which were later popularised by London’s underground scene and bands like The Sex Pistols, will find dialogue with Kawakubo’s similar, albeit more surrealist, rebellious energy. Westwood’s famed Pirate and Buffalo collections from the early ’80s will sit alongside Kawakubo’s Not Making Clothes series (from the Spring/Summer 2014 collection), which questioned whether a garment even needed to resemble “clothes” at all.
The Reinvention section will spotlight the designers’ deep connection with history—Westwood through 18th-century portraiture and court dress, and Kawakubo through layered juxtapositions of clashing patterns, lace, and futurist silhouettes. From Westwood’s corseted tartan gowns like the Anglomania piece famously worn by Kate Moss to Kawakubo’s Invisible Clothes (from the Spring/Summer 2017 collection), these garments will subvert expectations while paying tribute to craftsmanship.
Some of the highlights include Westwood’s original corseted wedding gown from the Wake Up, Cave Girl collection from the Autumn/Winter 2007-08 showcase, as seen on Sarah Jessica Parker for Sex and the City: The Movie, as well as the sculptural floral Comme des Garçons ensemble famously worn by Rihanna at the 2017 Met Gala. Other red-carpet–worthy designs include Westwood’s iconic punk ensembles from the late 1970s, popularised by London bands such as The Sex Pistols and Siousie Sioux; and a romantic MacAndreas tartan gown from Westwood’s Anglomania collection, famously worn by Kate Moss on the runway.
But Westwood | Kawakubo will go beyond celebrity glam. A dramatic spotlight gallery will contrast Westwood’s 18th-century-inspired ball gowns in silk taffeta with Kawakubo’s avant-garde interpretations rendered in pink vinyl and floral jacquard. Another section will compare their tailoring languages and delve into Westwood’s punk-meets-Victorian draping against Kawakubo’s riffs on tartan, tweed, and pinstripe.
Beyond Design Showcase
Westwood | Kawakubo will also feature a bouquet of archival footage, photography, and runway films, offering rare insight into each designer’s process and vision. The culmination? A show-stopping finale featuring works from Westwood’s final collections, such as Propaganda and Chaos Point, alongside Kawakubo’s recent Uncertain Future.
A publication, also titled Westwood | Kawakubo, will accompany the show, with essays by fashion luminaries including Valerie Steele, Akiko Fukai, Dame Zandra Rhodes, and Stephen Jones.
Alongside the summer presentation will be a free kids' exhibition titled Let’s Party: NGV Fashion for Kids, opening on November 28. Featuring garments from the NGV’s Fashion and Textiles Collection, including evening dresses, bold, imaginative outfits, and playful accessories, young visitors can enjoy hands-on activities where they’ll have the chance to create their show-stopping fashions.
Westwood | Kawakubo will be on display from December 7, 2025, to April 19, 2026, at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne. Entry fees apply. Tickets and information are available via the NGV website here.
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