WESTWOOD | KAWAKUBO

THURS 15 JANUARY – SUN 19 APRIL
10:00AM – 5:00PM

EXHIBITION

This major international exhibition pairs the work of two of the most influential fashion designers in recent history, Vivienne Westwood and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons.

Beginning their careers in the 1970s working in different countries and cultural contexts, British-born Vivienne Westwood (1941–2022), and Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo (b.1942), introduced a rule-breaking radicalism to fashion by subverting the status quo. As self-taught, independent practitioners, Westwood and Kawakubo’s affinity lies in their uncompromising originality anchored in a desire for personal freedom, autonomy, and social and aesthetic change. Their unorthodox approaches have similarly questioned conventions of taste, gender and beauty, the body, and garment form and function to change how we think about fashion.

Bringing together works from the NGV Collection with selected important loans from international museums and private collections, the exhibition highlights key collections and concerns, showcasing over 140 designs that explore the convergences and divergences between the two designers’ work. 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.

NGV International, 180 St Kilda Road, Melbourne​

Tickets from $40

• EVENT INFO

  Tickets range from:

  Adult: $40.00
  Concession: $37.00
  Child: $18.00 (5–15 years)
  Family $98 (2 adults + 3 children)

  NGV Member Adult: $36.00
  NGV Member Child: $14.00 (5–15 years)
  NGV Member Family: $92.00

  Flexible Exhibition Entry: $80.00

  + $5.50 booking fee

  Seniors card discount Wednesdays only

• ACCESSIBILITY

  Venue accessibility information
  
  For more information about how the gallery can support your access requirements, contact their team.

• ABOUT THE ORGANISER

  The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) is the oldest and most visited gallery in Australia. Situated over two magnificent buildings – NGV International and The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia – the Gallery hosts a wide range of international and local artists, exhibitions, programs and events; from contemporary art to major international historic exhibitions, fashion and design, architecture, sound and dance.

  Founded in 1861, today the NGV holds the most significant collection of art in the region; a vast treasury of more than 76,000 works that span thousands of years and a wealth of ideas, disciplines and styles. It is a collection that is yours, and it’s free! We warmly welcome you to share in these riches and the many activities, exhibitions and events developed at the NGV for us all to enjoy.

• CONTACT

  For more information, please contact the event organiser:

  The National Gallery of Victoria
  For general enquiries: 9:00am – 5:00pm daily
  Via online form
  (03) 8620 222