Tony Talks Viktor&Rolf

 When Viktor and Rolf first descended on Paris Haute Couture in 1993 it seemed imaginable that they would become mainstays of the business of couture. These Dutch gentlemen have consistently shown that their inventiveness, wit, and imagination is allied to complete respect for the craft of couture and have never wavered in that attitude. Ready to Wear, menswear and bridal have been part of their business and obviously fragrance is hugely important, but at the heart is their respect and knowledge of couture, and their humorous yet intelligent capacity for subverting it. If they abandoned couture for over a decade when they returned in 2013, and by 2015, they had indeed mainly dropped ready to wear, couture is their playground. Yet it is also in so many ways a serious playground for testing, experimenting and using haute couture exactly as it should be used, as a fashion laboratory. They propose silhouette conundrums, shows where we were not only confused but unable to get a simple answer from the designers themselves. A show in black out with fluorescent details, a show based around bells, shown in artificial fog, a show of only swimwear, I’ve been at so many of them and always found their approach to fashion and couture fascinating, the Van Gogh collection. Some seasons ago they created and entire collection out of leftovers and sample pieces of fabric, The Vagabond collection, which they repeated until they ran out of stored bits. They’ve collaborated with embroiderers and artists, shown dress which could be hung on the walls as paintings and during lockdown made a collection shown only on film to be worn entirely indoors.

They’ve shown in distressed art galleries, old fashioned music halls and vast modern spaces. So, this season we were at the fabled Second Empire ballroom at the hotel Yves Saint Laurent always showed his couture at. Once seated the show show started very quickly with the first model entering, a woman’s voice, as in the olden golden days of couture recited the details of the outfit, after a few minutes we realised this description was on a loop as Victor and Rolf had set themselves a restricted set of pieces and fabrics to work with. A trench, a white shirt and navy pants always in silk hazard. What was stunning and so beautifully realised was that within this tight self-imposed box, they created so many wonderful looks and great pieces. Once again, their skills at silhouette means we had slender looks, bustles and trains, huge ballooning volumes, and their signature pouter pigeon bustling. We had fit and flare covered in graduated ruffles, we had scattered bows with trailing ribbons, we had huge bow tied cuffs, and we had trousers which were every shape from narrow to flared. All in all, it was a master class in designing without fuss, extras or additions. It covered city to evening and offered clients a shape and a piece to suit everyone, indeed it was so clever many didn’t love it. However the price Viktor and Rolf pay for their brilliance is, you cannot sit on the fence, or simply use the word “nice”, it’s love it or loathe it, and I loved it, yet again.