Look 8, dress
2019 {Neo Future collection, autumn-winter 2020}
Medium
polyester, polyester wool, polyester cotton, nylon, polyvinyl chloride, metal and plastic (fastenings)
Measurements
123.0 cm (centre back) 80.0 cm (waist flat)
Credit Line
Gift of the artist, 2025
Gallery location
Special Exhibitions Gallery
Ground Level, NGV International
About this work
Kawakubo’s runway presentations often feature striking
headpieces and hairstyles, the result of her nearly forty-year
collaboration with avant-garde French hairstylist Julien d’Ys.
Given very little direction – often seeing the garments only
a day before the show – d’Ys responds spontaneously to
Kawakubo’s designs. For the Neo Future collection, each look was paired with a distinctive headpiece and its own
soundtrack. Using perspex, transparent lace veiling and
clouds of piled nylon tulle, d’Ys’ headpieces lend a sense of
ceremony, balancing out the eccentric, seemingly illogical
forms of Kawakubo’s garments.