Look 5, dress
2025 {Uncertain Future collection, autumn-winter 2025}
Medium
nylon, polyester, rayon/polyester/silk, wool/nylon/silk, cotton (lining), plastic and metal (fastenings)
Measurements
139.0 cm (centre back) 121.0 cm (width)
Credit Line
Gift of the artist, 2025
Gallery location
Ground Level, NGV International
About this work
Kawakubo’s work is rarely didactic, and she consistently resists defining its meaning. Yet in recent years, her collections have increasingly grappled with questions of individual and collective power, and the sense of powerlessness in the face of global crises. Previously her Black Rose collection called for ‘courage, resistance and freedom’, while Lamentation mourned the world’s sorrows and urged solidarity. In this outfit, protest banners advocating for environmental and LGBTQIA+ rights appear faintly beneath a layer of black glittery netting.