“I have the couture dress at home,” she said. “I have the one that John Galliano actually fitted and made for me.”

Kidman said she had a trove of treasured gowns in her private collection that her daughters would inherit.

“I treat them as works of art because that is what they are,” Kidman said.

“At some point I will donate them to an institution or a costume institute.

“I want them to be kept because they are beautiful and I am entrusting them to my daughters so I am hoping that they will value them as much and place them where they should be placed.

“That is why something like this is fantastic for Melbourne to have because these things, they have a life, they represent a part of history. My mum would love to come and see this.”

The exhibition is a collaboration between the NGV and the House of Dior and includes a sumptuous display of more than 140 garments designed by Christian Dior Couture between 1947 and 2017.

Highlights include examples from Christian Dior’s iconic spring 1947 New Look collection, magnificent displays of Dior’s signature ball gowns and evening dresses, as well as designs from the inaugural couture collection of the House’s first female head designer, Maria Grazia Chiuri.