Opening on 7 December 2025, the world premiere of the NGV’s blockbuster summer exhibition brings together for the first time two global fashion icons: British designer Vivienne Westwood and Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons. Born within a year of each other in different countries and cultural contexts, both brought revolutionary radicalism to fashion design, subverting the status quo. Today, their collections are celebrated globally for challenging conventions of taste, gender and beauty, as well as challenging the form and function of clothing itself.
Through a sensational display of over 140 innovative and groundbreaking designs, Westwood | Kawakubo explores the convergences and divergences between these two self-taught fashion rebels. The exhibition brings together major loans from international museums and private collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Victoria & Albert Museum, Palais Galliera and the Vivienne Westwood Archive. The exhibition features over 80 works recently acquired from the NGV Collection, including nearly 40 exceptional works recently donated to the NGV by Comme des Garçons specifically for this exhibition.
Organized thematically, the exhibition traces the collections and issues that have informed their practices from the mid-1970s to the present, highlighting the multiple ways in which Westwood and Kawakubo have rewritten fashion conventions and codes throughout their careers. Structuring themes include Punk and Provocation, Rupture, Reinvention and The Body and The Power of Clothes, each considering different ways in which Westwood and Kawakubo have rewritten fashion convention over the course of their careers.
The exhibition design presents the distinct voices of Westwood and Kawakubo as parallel yet fundamentally unique forces in fashion.
Tony Ellwood AM, Director, NGV said:
“This exhibition celebrates two leading female fashion designers from different cultural backgrounds, who both had strong creative spirits and pushed boundaries. Through more than 140 designs from the NGV Collection and key international loans, Westwood | Kawakubo invites audiences to reflect on the enduring legacies of these groundbreaking designers and contemplate the ways in which fashion can be a vehicle for self-expression and freedom.”
Jaime Cohen, Managing Director, Mercedes-Benz Cars & CEO, Mercedes-Benz Australia/ Pacific Pty Ltd said:
“We are honoured to take our place as Principal Partner for Westwood | Kawakubo, exploring the work of two of the most visionary and influential fashion designers in recent history. Mercedes-Benz Australia has an unwavering commitment to innovation and creative excellence is at the core of everything we do.”
