Comme des Garçons, Tokyo, Rei Kawakubo, Look 6, from the Invisible Clothes collection, spring–summer 2017. Paris, 9 March 2017. Image © Comme des Garçons. Model: Georgia Howorth 

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN TWO OF FASHION’S most defiant minds are brought into the same room – quite literally? This December, the National Gallery of Victoria will answer that question with Westwood | Kawakubo, a landmark exhibition that unites the work of Vivienne Westwood and Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo of Comme Des Garçons for the first time in a major institutional setting.

It’s a world premiere. And it’s exclusive to Melbourne.

Opening 7 December and running through 19 April 2026, the summer blockbuster brings together more than 140 boundary-pushing garments by the two designers – many drawn from the NGV’s own fashion holdings, which now boast more than 300 works by Kawakubo and over 100 by Westwood.

Adding to the show’s significance, over 40 runway pieces were recently gifted to the gallery by Comme des Garçons, hand-selected by Kawakubo herself for this very occasion.

“We knew we were sitting on something really special,” says Katie Somerville, NGV’s Senior Curator of Fashion and Textiles. “The more we looked at the overlaps between their careers, their philosophies, and the way they both rewrote the rules – the more it felt inevitable that this needed to happen now.”

BAZAAR spoke exclusively with Somerville ahead of the official announcement. She and fellow curator Danielle Whitfield have spent more than two years shaping the exhibition, which explores the designers’ shared themes across five conceptual chapters: Punk and Provocation, Rupture, Reinvention, The Body, and The Power of Clothes.

“These are two women who, despite completely different cultural and personal contexts, never played by the rules,” says Somerville. “They didn’t go to fashion school. They never followed the conventional path. And yet they changed fashion forever.”

Comme des Garçons, Tokyo, Rei Kawakubo Look 13, from the Uncertain Future collection, spring–summer 2025. Paris, 28 September 2024. Image © Comme des Garçons. Model: Astrid Wagemakers 
Comme des Garçons, Tokyo, Rei Kawakubo Look 2, from the Smaller is Stronger collection, autumn–winter 2025. Paris, 8 March 2025. Image © Comme des Garçons. Model: Mirre Sonders 

Highlights from the exhibition include Westwood’s Anglomania tartan gown made famous by Kate Moss, the infamous corseted wedding dress worn by Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City, and early punk looks from her time collaborating with Malcolm McLaren.

From Kawakubo comes the sculptural petal dress made famous by Rihanna at the Met Gala, as well as experimental silhouettes from collections like Body Meets Dress – Dress Meets Body (SS97) and Uncertain Future (SS25).

One of the show’s centrepieces is a dramatic gallery space inspired by 18th-century fashion history, where Westwood’s sweeping silk ballgowns face off against Kawakubo’s subversive takes in pink vinyl and rich jacquards. Elsewhere, tartans, tweeds and deconstructed tailoring chart the designers’ opposing but equally radical views on tradition, beauty and the body.

“We’ve deliberately avoided a chronological layout,” explains Somerville. “Instead, we’re encouraging people to think about ideas — about rebellion, craftsmanship, identity, politics. Fashion here becomes a mirror. Or sometimes, a provocation.”

World’s End, London, Vivienne Westwood, Malcolm McLaren. Outfit from the Nostalgia of Mud collection, autumn–winter 1982–83. Pillar Hall, Olympia, London, 24 March 1982. Photo © Robyn Beeche 
World’s End, London, Vivienne Westwood, Malcolm McLaren. Outfit from the Savage collection, spring–summer 1982. Pillar Hall, Olympia, London, 22 October 1981. Photo © Robyn Beeche 

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