Born on opposite sides of the globe, two rebels whose drastic and daring visions changed the course of fashion began redefining the industry in one fateful year.
It was in 1981 that English designer Vivienne Westwood debuted her runway collection in London, and that same year Rei Kawakubo from Japan presented her first international collection in Paris.
Both collections were named Pirates and while the differences were stark, the pair shared an innovative eye for concept and design, National Gallery of Victoria curator Danielle Whitfield said.
"The great affinity between Westwood and Kawakubo lies in their shared spirit of rebellion and their desire to rewrite the rules of dress," Ms Whitfield told AAP.
The pair's collections are converging once more as the NGV launches its summer blockbuster exhibition charting the two iconoclasts' visions through more than 140 of their radical works.
Their influence continues to be seen after Westwood pioneered the use of corsetry, bringing underwear to outerwear and turning it into a symbol of female empowerment, including in the wedding dress worn by Sarah Jessica Parker in the Sex and The City movie.
Kawakubo's influence led to the rise in the use of black clothing and flat shoes on runways, as well as distressed or ragged materials.
Both were were self-taught designers who approached fashion with a completely unbridled sense of freedom, rewriting the industry's rules in the process. Their key collections in 1981 marked a "year of rupture" where they redefined their creative manifestos.
"This is great synergy in the way that both use that year and that moment to recalibrate their fashion vocabularies and to think about what their work is going forward," Ms Whitfield said.
With their experimental punk-inspired styles, the two women challenged conventions and fashion norms, changing the way people perceived and wore fashion.
"They are fashion rebels," Ms Whitfield said.
Kawakubo set out to make things that did not exist before with every collection featuring a new concept or methodology, Ms Whitfield said, while Westwood sought to reinterpret the past.
NGV visitors will encounter the Westwood/Kawakubo story in five thematic chapters in a ticketed exhibition running from December to April.
