LONDON — The National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia’s largest and oldest public art gallery, plans to take a look at two groundbreaking female designers, Vivienne Westwood and Rei Kawakubo, whose careers evolved in parallel, and who both had a taste for provocation.
The show, “Westwood | Kawakubo,” will run from Dec. 7 until April 19 and marks the first time the designers’ fashion has been shown side by side, despite all they had in common.
“They were born within a year of each other, on different sides of the world, and were both self-taught. Both had groundbreaking moments in 1981, with Westwood showing in London, and Kawakubo in Paris,” said Katie Somerville, senior curator, fashion and textiles at the NGV, in an interview.
The similarities don’t end there. Westwood’s 1981 show, which she did with her then-husband and collaborator Malcolm McLaren, was called Pirate, while Kawakubo’s outing for her fledgling label Comme des Garçons was titled Pirates.
Although the women’s aesthetics were different, their mindset was often similar. Both pushed the limits of convention, examined the complex relationship between clothes and the body, and brought historical dress into their work.
“Their work has never been about going quietly — or presenting what’s expected,” Somerville said.
Comme des Garçons spring 2024
YANNIS VLAMOS
The show will feature more than 140 designs, most of them from the museum’s own collection, with the rest from private collections and institutions including London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, Palais Galliera in Paris and the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Somerville said that while they were organizing the show, the NGV received a “transformative” donation of more than 40 recent works from Comme des Garçons. They will also feature in the show.
The exhibition has been organized by theme, and looks at the designers’ embrace of provocation; menswear and tailoring; historical costume, and the female body. It also looks at both women’s ability to make statements about politics and the environment through their designs.
Exhibition highlights include Westwood’s punk ensembles from the late 1970s, popularized by London bands such as The Sex Pistols and Siousie Sioux; a romantic tartan gown from Westwood’s Anglomania collection worn by Kate Moss on the runway in the early 1990s, and the original version of the corseted wedding dress worn by Sarah Jessica Parker in “Sex and The City: The Movie.”
Kawakubo’s works include a sculptural petal ensemble worn by Rihanna on the red carpet and dramatic abstract works that challenge the relationship between the body and clothing. They include gingham sculptural designs from the Body Meets Dress — Dress Meets Body collection from spring 1997.
Looks from Vivienne Westwood‘s 1981 Pirate collection.
While the museum has a strong tradition of showcasing fashion, this is the first time it has put two designers side by side.
“At the NGV, we’ve carved out an innovative model of presenting shows where we pair artists,” said Somerville, adding that recent — and successful — shows have looked at Andy Warhol alongside Ai Wei Wei, and Keith Haring in tandem with Jean-Michel Basquiat.
“We’ve never done one focusing on fashion — or women — and we thought it was a brilliant way” to do both, she said.
“We’ve learned from doing those projects that if you pick two really significant, impactful [artists] and put them together, a whole other layer of things is revealed, other points of connection — and absolute divergence,” she added.
The NGV plans to mark the opening of the exhibition — its annual summer blockbuster show — with a gala on Dec. 6 at NGV International.