“They share the same spirit of rebellion, their work champions creative and social freedom...”
3. Smaller is Stronger
The exhibition features three impressive sculptural works acquired by the gallery from Kawakubo’s recent autumn/winter 2025–26 Smaller is Stronger collection. “[It’s] a collection that marked a return to her key concerns with tailoring codes, suiting and patternmaking,” says Danielle.
Many of the 20 pieces shown were created using pinstriped, checked and houndstooth fabrics more closely aligned to menswear but manipulated into curved, abstract, ‘feminine’ forms.
After the collection was shown at Paris Fashion Week, the designer shared the meaning behind its name: “Recently we feel that big business, big culture, global systems, world structures maybe are not so great after all. There is also strong value in small. Small can be mighty.”
4. Blood and Roses
For her spring/summer 2015 collection, Blood and Roses, Kawakubo used an all-red palette and rose motifs, with raw edges and visible seams, to reference violence and struggle.
“On one plinth in the exhibition, we are presenting seven complete looks from Kawakubo’s Blood and Roses collection alongside an enigmatic photograph by Paolo Roversi,” says Katie.
“The entire collection was executed in vibrant shades of vermillion red and references the rose’s historical associations with blood, wars, political conflict, religious strife and power struggles.”
“It’s a playful mix of tradition, royalty, parody and transgression.”
Westwood disrupting tradition
Another section of the NGV fashion exhibition focuses on Westwood’s collections of the late 80s and early 90s: autumn/winter 1987’s Harris Tweed and autumn/winter 1993’s Anglomania.
“They demonstrate the defining role that her unique take on Britishness played in Westwood’s design language,” says Danielle. “It’s a playful mix of tradition, royalty, parody and transgression.”
Included in these collections are some of the designer’s best-known works, including Anglomania’s MacAndreas tartan gown, worn by Kate Moss on the runway, as well as world-renowned milliner Stephen Jones’ tweed ‘crown’, created for the Harris Tweed show, both of which are also on display at the NGV.
Westwood | Kawakubo will be showing at Melbourne’s NGV International until April 19, 2026.
Visit the NGV and discover Westwood | Kawakubo.