<p>Discover the art of fashion as championed by two of the fashion world's most revered rebels.</p>

<p style="font-weight: 400;">Each December, the National Gallery of Victoria transforms into an intersection of art and couture, drawing A-listers, designers and tastemakers to the heart of Melbourne for the NGV Gala. Beyond a black-tie benefit, the crown jewel of Australia&rsquo;s cultural and social calendar serves as a multisensory prelude to the gallery&rsquo;s summer blockbuster exhibition &mdash; most recently celebrating the world premiere of <em>NGV Summer</em> <em>Masterpieces: Westwood | Kawakubo</em> exhibition, a tribute to two global icons &mdash; and iconoclasts &mdash; of the fashion world.</p>

<p style="font-weight: 400;">From the spectacular &ldquo;denim carpet&rdquo; arrivals to the late-night revelry, the Gala remains a definitive statement on the symbiotic relationship between fashion as art and art as fashion.</p>

Photo courtesy: Saskia Salgado/Getty Images for NGV

Photo courtesy: Brittany Long/Getty Images for NGV

Photo courtesy: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images for NGV

Photo courtesy: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images for NG

Photo courtesy: Graham Denholm/Getty Images for NGV

Photo courtesy: Naomi Rahim/Getty Images for NGV

<p style="font-weight: 400;">Differentiated by countries and cultural contexts, but united in bringing rule-breaking radicalism to fashion that subverts the status quo, British designer Vivienne Westwood (1941 &ndash; 2022) and Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo (b. 1942) challenged conventions of taste, gender and beauty, as well as the very form and function of clothing.</p>

<p style="font-weight: 400;">The Westwood | Kawakubo exhibition aims to explore the convergences and divergences between these two self-taught fashion rebels. Presented thematically across five themes: Punk and Provocation, Rupture, Reinvention, The Body: Freedom and Restraint, and The Power of Clothes, the showstopping display of more than 140 ground-breaking sartorial creations charts their defining collections from the mid-1970s to the present day.</p>

<h4 style="font-weight: 400; text-align: center;">Westwood | Kawakubo runs from 7 December 2025 to 19 April 2026 at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne.</h4>

NGV Summer Masterpieces: Westwood | Kawakubo exhibition opens in Melbourne

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