With exquisite craftsmanship and dreamy silhouettes, sometimes made from tinkling bells or red carpet, the fashion artists Viktor & Rolf--a real Dutch national treasure--have been creating wearable art for the past 25 years in the most unique and singular style.-Thierry-Maxime Loriot, curator of the exhibition Viktor & Rolf: Fashion Artists 25 Years
Since forming their creative partnership in 1992, Dutch fashion designers Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren--working together as Viktor&Rolf--have gained critical acclaim for their cerebral, witty and rebellious approach to design, their technical virtuosity and deep knowledge of fashion history. Their spectacular avant-garde creations are showcased in this richly illustrated publication.
Throughout their 25-year career, Viktor&Rolf have carved a contradictory identity that pushes the boundaries between art and fashion. Exploring their concept of wearable art, Viktor&Rolf: Fashion Artists 25 Years features some of the Dutch design duo's most show-stopping works, drawn from the Viktor&Rolf archive as well as museum collections and private collections around the world. It includes an exclusive recent interview by the curator with the designers, a fascinating glossary of Viktor & Rolf and a rich iconography with iconic images by leading artists and photographers such as Cindy Sherman, Andreas Gursky, Herb Ritts, Anton Corbijn, Mert & Marcus, Annie Leibovitz, David LaChapelle, Tim Walker, Nick Knight and Inez & Vinoodh, among others.
Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren (both born 1969) graduated in 1992 from ArtEz Institute in Arnhem (The Netherlands) and won the Hyres Festival contest a year later. From 1994, they started to present their haute couture collections as installations, mainly in art galleries. In 2000, they launched their ready-to-wear line for women, and in 2005 they developed their first perfume, Flowerbomb; the following year their first men's perfume, Antidote, was introduced. Presentations of their collections have featured performers such as Tilda Swinton, Tori Amos and Rufus Wainwright. In 2016-17, the exhibition Viktor&Rolf. Fashion Artists was presented at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, followed in 2018 by its adaptation to celebrate the duo's 25th anniversary exhibition at Kunsthal in Rotterdam.