Viktor & Rolf

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Viktor & Rolf logo

Viktor & Rolf is an Amsterdam-based fashion brand. The company was founded in 1993 by designers Viktor Horsting (b. 1969) and Rolf Snoeren (b. 1969).

1 Introduction
2 Shows
3 References
4 External link

[edit] Introduction

Viktor & Rolf met while studying fashion at the Arnhem art academy.^[1] After graduating they moved to Paris, interning for brands such as Maison Martin Margiela, designing their own clothes in the evenings and presenting them in the art circuit.^[1] In 1993, Viktor & Rolf won the Festival d'Hyeres prize.^[1]

In 1998, Viktor & Rolf put on an unauthorized, underground fashion show during Paris Fashion Week designed to attracted members of the press.^[1] Ready-to-wear and their menswear label "Monsieur" were to follow over the next five years. V&R also produces women's shoes (designed by Dutch designer Fredie Stevens), glasses (Asia only), neckties, scarves and lingerie. V&R have also worked as curators for several exhibitions, and have designed stage-outfits for several theatre productions. According to the designers, "For us, fashion is an antidote to reality."^[2]

In 2003, the Fashion Museum in Paris presented a 10-year retrospective of the designers' work. In 2005 they opened their first, flagship shop in the Golden Triangle (Quadrilatrero d'Oro) in Milan, and were contracted by L'Oreal to develop their first perfume, called Flowerbomb.^[3] In 2006, their first men's perfume, Antidote, was introduced in the US.

In November of 2006, V&R followed Karl Lagerfeld and Stella McCartney in designing a line for the Swedish-based retailer H&M.^[4]

Characteristics of their clothes include layering, distorting, exaggerating and repeating of classical design elements (blouses with 10 nested collars, upside-down and lop-sided dresses).

[edit] Shows

Viktor & Rolf Fall 2006 collection

Viktor & Rolf have gained attention for their artistic, concept-driven catwalk presentations. For example, in one show they dressed model Maggie Rizer in layer upon layer of couture dresses, piled on top of one another.^[5] They have also used a blue collection of clothes as a chroma-key blue-screen to project video.^[6] For the presentation of their first menswear collection, they modeled the clothes themselves, changing outfits on the stage. Their collections have also featured several performers, like Tilda Swinton, Tori Amos and Rufus Wainwright^[7]. Another noteworthy, longtime cooperation is with internationally known photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.