VIKTOR & ROLF PARIS HAUTE COUTURE S/S ‘23
“HAUTE COUTURE IS OUR LABORATORY OF CREATIVE EXPERIMENTATION.”
Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, the duo behind Viktor&Rolf, are known as much for their controversial fashion shows as they are for their cutting edge designs. The duo first made waves with their avant-garde creations at Paris Fashion Week in 1993. In 2001, they won the Swarovski Award for Women's Fashion Creators and were awarded the prestigious Prix de la Moda award in 2003. Following their 1999 show, which featured a dark and seductive presentation of lingerie and eveningwear pieces worn by a cast of male models instead of female ones, they were expelled from the UK's London Fashion Week as well as from Mulberry's Fall show in 2001. They were allowed back into London after three years to showcase their own collection during London Fashion Week (September 2005). Their work has been frequently described as "provocative" and "sexy" but also "disturbing".
The lovely, romantic tulle ballgowns from Viktor&Rolf Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2023 pay homage to the illustrious legacy and heyday of Haute Couture in the middle of the 20th century. The body is formed, the décolletés are showing, the shoulders are naked. g. The waist is highlighted and contrasted with full mille-feuille skirts in countless layers of tull f. Bows and dazzling embroidery are used to adorn the bodices. The pastel colour scheme reminds me of a Boucher or Wattea painting. The collection seems to establish the tone for an almost clichéd view of Haute Couture as an antiquated ideal of soft femininity thanks to its delicate atmosphere.
But dreams can be misleading. The commonplace turns weird, the ordinary becomes absurd, and vice versa. This collection captures the feeling of exclusion that the collection's name alludes to. A single, strictly defined "fashion ideal" is put forth and creatively modified to call into question its very existence. The body glides away from the garment while keeping the "dessous" that defines its silhouette (traditionally an integral part of the construction of a Couture dress). Additionally, the dress antagonises, alienates, and surreptitiously frees itself from the body while maintaining its idealised shape.
