The National Gallery of Victoria will present an exhibition showcasing the works of avant-garde fashion designers Vivienne Westwood and Rei Kawakubo, opening on December 7, 2023. This exhibition is Westwood's first extensive showcase in Australia since her passing in December 2023. It will feature garments drawn from the museum's fashion collection and loans from various notable institutions. Westwood is known for her pivotal role in London's 1970s punk scene and her later climate activism, while Kawakubo’s deconstructed designs gained her a significant following in Paris after her establishment in Japan.
Westwood came to prominence as the designer behind the tattered, torn and often obscene garments of London's 1970s punk scene, before moving towards irreverent but historically grounded tailoring and corsetry in the early 1980s.
After establishing Comme des Garcons in her native Japan, Kawakubo appalled the fashion establishment when she began showing in Paris in 1981. Her deconstructed and distressed designs won her a fervent underground fanbase.
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