„Viktor&Rolf is the avant-garde luxury fashion house founded in 1993 by fashion artists Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren after their graduation from the Arnhem Academy of Art and Design. Widely recognized and respected for its provocative Haute Couture and conceptual glamour, the house of Viktor&Rolf aspires to create spectacular beauty and unexpected elegance through an unconventional approach to fashion.“
Why do we wear clothing? Is it to show our religious or societal rank? Or because we need protection against the elements? Or because we want to be modest? Whatever the reason, that piece of garment has to be designed and produced, it has to follow rules of chemistry and physics. Materials like icecubes won’t work, especially in warm climates. And then there is gravity. And Viktor&Rolf, who question everything I just mentioned in this paragraph.
This long dress with its simple silhouette is made of fabric that is usually used for blue-screen technology. When the models walked down the runway, the blue-screen material was replaced by videos of thunderstorm, fireworks, nature, etc. The material of the dress was used as a screen, a canvas to go beyond and dissolves the material itself. This plays tricks with your imagination and dissolves the boundary an outfit usually has: inside the dress is the body, and the dress is the border to the outside.
Another way to break all the rules of convention are those outfits below. Fashion designers create gaps and openings in fabrics to stimulate curiosity, to enhance comfort and wearability. But an opening doesn’t have to be limited to a strapless or one-shoulder top, a backless dress or a miniskirt. Why not remove areas in-between? It’s still a long dress, but with maximal exposure.
And don’t forget the fun! Fun with fooling gravity, fun with questioning symmetry, fun with material choices that get your heart smiling and your mind remembering times when you scribbled your first fashion designs with no rule catalog weighing you down.
Viktor&Rolf also show those classics that awe everybody who has an appreciation for a garment that took 600 hours of work, haute couture at its best! This dress was worn by the Dutch princess Mabel van Oranje-Nassau‘s nuptials with Prince Friso. The white satin dress, including a 3-meter train is decorated with 248 silk bows.
Another favorite: it looks like it’s made of 1 yard of nude jersey and some fabric markers. Simple, comfortable, and why not? It takes guts to design an outfit like that, but hey, it’s Viktor&Rolf!
