‘Westwood Kawakubo’ places two style renegades in dialog

The Nationwide Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne has an extended historical past of placing two artists in dialog by means of the establishment’s blockbuster exhibitions – the gallery is the most-visited in Australia – from Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei in 2015 to Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat in 2019. ‘The thrilling factor with these initiatives is that they permit a wealthy and deep exploration of the work of every designer after which the extra thrilling prospect of exploring the purpose of convergence – or certainly divergence – between the 2,’ says Danielle Whitfield, one of many establishment’s curators.

Whitfield’s newest mission, alongside Katie Somerville – one other curator within the NGV’s style and textiles division – brings this concept of ‘dialog’ to the world of fashion, imagining a dialogue between two of its most influential designers, Rei Kawakubo and Vivienne Westwood. Each towering figures of the avant-garde – and each proudly anti-establishment – Somerville says they had been chosen for his or her ‘modern and visionary’ method and ‘shared spirit of revolt’. Born a 12 months aside, in Tokyo, Japan and Derbyshire, United Kingdom, respectively, their careers would run in parallel: in 1969, Kawakubo would discovered her label Comme des Garçons, whereas two years later in London, Westwood opened her first store, ‘Let it Rock’ on the King’s Highway with Malcolm McLaren.

Over the many years which adopted, the 2 designers would problem style’s established order: for Westwood, first by defining the aesthetics of punk, and later by playfully riffing on historic apparel, from corsets to crinoline – the sugary sensuality of François Boucher’s portraiture was a perennial reference – whereas for Kawakubo, revolt largely got here by means of type. This was memorably encapsulated in her S/S 1997 assortment for Comme des Garçons, which has been affectionately titled ‘Lumps and Bumps’ for the best way its clothes characteristic protusions of padding to warp the form of the physique. ‘It’s extra vital, I feel, to translate thought into motion somewhat than to fret about if one’s garments are worn ultimately,’ she stated of the gathering in 2005. ‘That is most likely why the gathering stimulated robust emotions in many individuals.’

Whereas Kawakubo and Westwood did meet in 1974, when Kawakubo visited Westwood and McLaren’s SEX store, and undertook a little-known collaboration in 2002, whereby archival Vivienne Westwood silhouettes had been remade in Comme des Garçons materials, the pair largely circulated one another’s work by means of mutual respect. Westwood would admire Kawakubo’s ‘punk spirit’, and each designers selected Paris to carry their runway reveals, which stays the case for Comme des Garçons (Kawakubo hosts biannual mens and womenswear reveals). After her dying in December 2022, Westwood’s eponymous label continues beneath her husband Andreas Kronthaler, who additionally reveals a set twice-yearly in Paris.

‘The affinity between Westwood and Kawakubo lies of their need to rewrite the ‘guidelines’ of costume,’ says Whitfield, who curated ‘Westwood Kawakubo’ alongside Somerville. ‘Generationally, they occupy the identical slice of style historical past, working from the early Seventies onwards. I feel what unites them, is that their work is about inventive and social freedom; they’ve tackled comparable themes of their work comparable to difficult conventions of magnificence, style and gender – and each, although self-taught, are deeply dedicated to the craft of creating, persistently experimenting with minimize and type.’

The impetus for the exhibition, which was opened with a starry gala co-chaired by musician Troye Sivan this previous weekend, got here largely from the NGV’s assortment, which had already amassed a big assortment of the 2 designers’ work (for Westwood, it at present holds 112 works; for Kawakubo, 308). Placing them collectively for the primary time was an opportunity for a ‘compelling narrative’, says Somerville, which within the exhibition unfolds over 5 thematic sections (these sections are titled ‘Punk and Provocation’, ‘Rupture’, ‘Reinvention’, ‘The Physique’ and ‘The Energy of Fabric).

And, whereas there’s a clear affinity between the designers, the curators say that their divergences show simply as intriguing. ‘There are nice variations aesthetically in how they execute and categorical their imaginative and prescient,’ says Whitfield. ‘I might say Westwood makes use of parody and perversity, and her references are extra literal, whereas Kawakubo’s gaze is inward, and extra conceptual and summary.’

The scenography of the present straddles the ‘lush and immersive’ – like an illustrated simulacrum of an 18th-century salon or a room enveloped in purple carpeting – and one thing extra spare and industrial (brushed aluminium shows characteristic, whereas one other room sees a collection of screens working alongside uncooked concrete corridors). The Comme des Garçons mannequins had been all dressed personally by the model’s in-house group, who flew in from Japan for the event, whereas the Westwood clothes are accompanied with sneakers and headpieces, a lot of which had been created by longtime collaborator, the British milliner Stephen Jones. Alongside, a collection of ephemera – from magazines and mail-outs to archival movie clips – offers a visible timeline of the 2 designers’ work.

‘There are such a lot of ways in which Westwood and Kawakubo have left an imprint on style at this time. I feel the brief reply is that they’ve each modified the best way we see style and perceive magnificence,’ says Whitfield of their respective legacies. ‘They’ve proven us the ability of style to protest orthodoxy and nicely as its capability to liberate us from conference. I hope that guests will come away impressed by their creativity, originality, bravery, and creative imaginative and prescient.’

‘Westwood Kawakubo’ runs on the Nationwide Gallery of Victoria (NGV) till 9 April 2026.