Vivienne Westwood and Rei Kawakubo are the focus of the greatest Australian exposure

Two pioneer designers will be the subjects of a new exhibition in the National Gallery of Victoria de Australia with Vivienne Westwood and Rei Kawakubo, the stars of box office success in December.

Westwood's work has been exhibited in Australia for more than two decades. The punk -style creator turned into a high -end designer died in December 2023 and the new exhibition presents his pieces of his own fashion collection, as well as loans from the Metropolitan Museum, V&A and others.

Opening in Melbourne on December 7, Westwood's work will be seen along with that of another game change that had a massive influence on the fashion of the late twentieth century and continues to do so today.

The founder of Comme des Garçons, Rei Kawakubo, is, like Westwood, seen as one of the fashion pioneers. His deconstructed and distressed designs promoted fashion trends in the eighties and ninety years, while in the next decade his Dover Street market concept was so influential in retail trends.

In 2017 he had the rare honor of being the object of independent exhibitions at the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York, only the second time that the costume institute had directed an exhibition celebrating a living designer. He had not done so since he presented Yves Saint Laurent in 1983.

Kawakubo has donated 40 garments for the new exhibition in Melbourne.

Katie Somerville, Senior fashion curator and NGV textiles and the exposure co-curator, said the style of the two self-taught designers may have been very different from each other, but they have things in common. In addition to being a similar age and increasing prominence at the same time, both have been tendency drivers and strong women who have an impact on a sector still dominated by men.

It is important to highlight that his work has never been together before.

As for the exhibition itself, it will be thematic instead of strictly chronological, observing movements such as punk, as well as historical influences and their relationship with the body.