Severed heads (Gucci), oleographic models (Alexander McQueen), solid wood tables to turn into very daring skirts (Hussein Chalayan). If you are a fan of fashion-and you will be, otherwise you would not be here-you will have seen all this, come across devilry that seems out of all logic, coup de théâtre sprung from imaginative minds for whom the bizarre actually serves as an activator of the soul and senses, reflecting slices of contemporaneity expressed in catwalks that are visionary, to say the least. Among the most skilled in the mise en scène of fearless platforms are they; Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, an artistic rather than stylistic duo, universally popular under the Viktor & Rolf label, creators of breathtaking shows all endowed with afterthoughts, that is, not mere fashionable amusements but stances on the most multifaceted issues of today. It is no coincidence that the exhibition opening next Feb. 23, 2024 (and through Oct. 6) at the Kunsthalle in Munich is titled Viktor & Rolf: Fashion Statement because for the couple, each collection “is always a statement,” as exhibition curator Thierry-Maxime Loriot pointed out to WWD.
DOMINIQUE CHARRIAU//GETTY IMAGES – Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren on the runway help models wear dresses from the Wereable Art collection for Fall Winter 2015 2016
Both born in 1969 and trained at the Academy of Art and Design in Arnhem, Viktor & Rolf have 30 years of radical fashion behind them, decades of unscrupulousness in fine-tuning a near-perfect technique, bent from time to time to the cause of phantasmagorical and conceptual creations. In 1993, for example, upcycling is more of a smoky theme than ever, yet the duo proves they have their finger on the pulse of the present, setting up a first collection made of remnants of Balenciaga and Saint Laurent, which earned them a win at the Hyères Festival. It is since then that they have continued a cursus honorum that eschews any compromise with commercial reality, debuting, in 1998, with a couture that is once again a declaration of intent, made up of dresses with sculptural silhouettes, each of which is an invitation to a study of the many elements that make up haute couture; from fabrics to colors, from embroideries to ornaments.
—-FAIRCHILD ARCHIVE//GETTY IMAGES Model Maggie Rizer, sole protagonist of the Russian Doll runway for Spring Summer 1999
But it is perhaps with two subsequent collections that Viktor & Rolf gain attention as well as international acclaim: Atomic Bomb (Fall Winter 1998 1999) salutes the new millennium with volumes modeled in the manner of atomic mushrooms, artfully inflated by silk padding that looks as if it should burst at any moment, while Russian Doll (Spring Summer 1999) is layering squared, the exaggerated accumulation of first poor and then deluxe dresses that has as its only result the (almost) disappearance of model Maggie Rizer, covered in the guise of a très chic, if somewhat weighted, matryoshka doll.
THIERRY CHESNOT//GETTY IMAGES A dress from the Fashion Statements collection for Spring Summer 2019
The Bavarian exhibition will feature these and other recent masterpieces, a total of 100 garments-selected by Viktor & Rolf together with curator Loriot-that range from insta-couture for Spring Summer 2019- cynical and ironic mockery to social networking virality, with meme-like creations made specifically to be photographed and shared- to Late Stage Capitalism Waltz, the waltz of “out-of-body” dresses, absurd mockery at the stereotypical meringues of haute couture, here alienated from women’s silhouettes with surrealistic fare.
ESTROP//GETTY IMAGES A work by Late Stage Capitalism Waltz, the collection for Spring Summer 2023
Plus sketches, drawings and photographs, multimedia elements, dolls, tapestries and works by artists, including Andreas Gursky and Cindy Sherman, placed in dialogue with Viktor & Rolf’s exuberant collections, in a tribute to the couple’s contribution to costume as well, with sketches made for American director and playwright Robert Wilson’s 2009 opera production, Der Freischütz.
VICTOR VIRGILE/GETTY IMAGES
Van Gogh Girls collection for Spring Summer 2015 transforms the painter’s wheat fields into three-dimensional artwork
Viktor & Rolf: Fashion Statement is more than a retrospective, it is a journey into the minds of two genius designers who, between irony and savoir-faire, Picasso echoes and post-retro aesthetics, deliver timely and valuable statements on fabric. Who is the exhibition aimed at? To fashion enthusiasts or-in the words of curator Thierry-Maxime Loriot-“to anyone who loves craftsmanship and unique works.” Because Viktor & Rolf’s are undoubtedly so.