One from England and the other from Japan, Vivienne Westwood and Rei Kawakubo dared to challenge the function of clothing and the constraints it imposes on us according to our gender and culture.
The National Gallery of Victoria, one of Australia's largest and oldest museums, is currently hosting a major retrospective exhibition on two iconoclastic designers. Nearly 150 pieces by Vivienne Westwood and Comme des Garçons are integrated into a dramatic scenography that retraces the designers' key moments. Although radically different, some of their pieces have been subject to similar criticism regarding their legitimacy and how they advocate for their values. Wandering through the exhibition, one discovers their practices since the 70s, notably that the two designers come from different cultural backgrounds. The collection juxtaposes their stances and how their cultures have influenced them, through archival pieces and runway videos.
Vivienne Westwood was a collector and owner of an outlet store known for its reactionary and avant-garde atmosphere. From 1984 onwards, Vivienne rebelled against the English heritage by subverting it. She created a strong punk identity through symbols such as tartan, studs, leather, and holes. Her eccentricity was surprisingly well-received because her intentions were committed and revolutionary. The Englishwoman's dramatic, even provocative, representations left their mark on fashion history, making her one of the few at the time to champion deconstructed fashion.
Rei Kawakubo founded the Comme des Garçons brand in 1969. Inspired by conceptual and revolutionary ideas, Rei championed a radical message. The Japanese designer's vision tended to challenge the expectations of the fashion world. Far from the traditional dictates of beauty, but closer to a conceptual approach expressed through words, she crafted a story with each collection, satirically so in both form and content. While the Comme des Garçons brand is well-known in the streetwear world, Rei Kawakubo's early pieces always explored the relationship between the body and its garments. The collections are distinguished by their proportions and abstract forms.
The exhibition consists of five themes in which the pieces are displayed simultaneously in order to create a dialogue:
Theme 1: Punk Provocation. How did the punk movement become the subject of a stylistic manifesto according to each of these groups? The word punk is not simply a stigmatizing expression that categorizes a group of individuals listening to a certain style of music. Being punk has become an ideology based on controversial values and ideas opposed to those of consumer society.
Theme 2: Rupture. The second theme highlights the motivations of these designers for wanting to break the rules and defend freedom. One championed the New Romanticism movement in 1980, which rejected a "preppy" style, while the other defended values of inclusivity in a sector where the body is still a taboo.
Theme 3: Reinvention. This section focuses on cultural influences and materials. A collection wouldn't be as meaningful without the choice of materials and accessories. Westwood drew more inspiration from art history and its many concepts. Rei Kawakubo embodies and illustrates the "taste for ugliness," a principle continually fueled by the trends sweeping through our society. While one draws inspiration from a certain, bygone art form, the other is attuned to the mores of contemporary society.
Theme 4: The Body – Freedom and Restraint. How did the two artists assimilate the notion of the body and its constraints? The English and Japanese artists deconstruct society's idealization of the female body through, nevertheless, different methods. One explores nudity while the other accentuates form.
Theme 5: The Power of Clothes. This final section concludes the exhibition by highlighting the importance of political discourse through a comparative analysis of two recent collections by designers: Vivienne Westwood's "Propaganda" (autumn/winter 2025) and Rei's "Uncertain Future" (spring/summer 2025). Both collections address a current issue: the place of the individual versus the collective, often marginalized in global concerns. These representations allow for the articulation of numerous viewpoints, particularly on environmental issues, equity, and individual freedoms.
The two designers are now part of fashion history because they transcended the function of desirable clothing. Through five themes, two distinct universes are compared, yet united by contemporary values and activist commitments. An overview of their inspirations and influences allows us to grasp their approach while following a thematic and temporal path. The archives, exceptionally presented to the public, do not champion a particular technique or aesthetic, but rather concepts: the provocative style of punk, adopting disruptive behavior, assimilating and reinventing heritage, the body and its constraints, and hidden political messages.
National Gallery of Victoria,
180 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne VIC 3006, Australia
Until April 19, 2026
