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1996
Body Meets Dress - Dress Meets Body collection, spring-summer 1997
Medium
nylon, polyurethane
Measurements
60.5 cm (centre back) 42.5 cm (waist, flat)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, NGV Supporters of Fashion and Textiles, 2018
© Comme des Garçons
Gallery location
Level 3, NGV International
About this work
One of Kawakubo’s most groundbreaking collections remains Body Meets Dress–Dress Meets Body, which collapsed the boundaries between body and garment, critiquing the limits of the natural body. Although known for its misshapen, padded silhouettes, this collection is also notable for Kawakubo’s deliberate use of gingham, a fabric traditionally associated with domesticity. Beyond questioning the boundaries of the so-called ‘fashionable body’, the collection contests Western ideas of femininity. The irregular bulbous forms of the collection inspired dance pioneer Merce Cunningham to invite Kawakubo to design costumes for his dance Scenario in 1997.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Japan
Inscription
label, centre back neckline, woven in black on white synthetic fabric: robe de chamber, COMME des GARÇONS / MADE IN JAPAN
Accession Number
2018.1311
Department
International Fashion and Textiles
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Professor AGL Shaw AO Bequest