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NGV Unites Kawakubo and Westwood to Present a Bold Fashion Show

Lifestyle and Fashion

Business Honor - NGV Brings Kawakubo & Westwood Together for Bold Fashion Show

Business Honor
01 July, 2025

NGV’s daring fashion show unites Westwood and Kawakubo’s powerful styles, highlighting women-led fashion and transforming the future of design.

The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) is going to create controversy by presenting its bold fashion show, uniting two fashion brands, Westwood and Kawakubo. It blends the powerful style of Dame Vivienne Westwood with the innovative vision of Rei Kawakubo’s fashion brand Comme des Garçons.

This celebrates the union of two legendary women. Kawakubo's abstract patterns subvert the ideas of gender, appearance, and style itself. Alongside the exhibition highlights Westwood's brave, daring fashions, such as her mini-crini skirts and corsets. Katie Somerville, senior fashion designer at NGV, stated that "Performing tasks with fashion designers—and two legendary women for the very first time—is super exciting."

For the fashion show, a few important items have been borrowed from famous museums like the Palais Galliera in Paris and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Both designers' shared roots in resistance and reinvention can be seen in the exhibition's themes, including "Punk and Provocation" and "Rupture and Reinvention." Comparing two designers offers greater understanding than single-artist exhibitions, according to fashion expert Valerie Steele, who authored the show's brochure. "They expose fascinating ideas, and the solo presentations frequently dissolve to be too attractive or dominated by the designer's brand.”

Even though Westwood and Kawakubo partnered for a short period in 2002, none of their works were displayed, unless somebody is interested in purchasing them. Show is setting up high hopes, as the Yayoi Kusama show attracted over 570,000 viewers last year. This is a brave step toward a future where fashion challenges all rules, led by brave women.