Viktor & Rolf
Brand
Viktor & Rolf is an Amsterdam-based fashion brand. The company was founded in 1993 by designers Viktor Horsting (born 1969) and Rolf Snoeren (born 1969). They are famous for fantastical and concept-based designs, mixing extreme ideas with glamourous high-fashion. They also have had a fluctuating, devoted relationship with the fashion world, often played out in the themes of their shows and their overt pursuit of international popularity. Viktor & Rolf met while studying fashion at the Arnhem art academy. 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. In 1993, Viktor & Rolf won the Festival d'Hyeres prize. In 1998, Viktor & Rolf put on an unauthorized, underground fashion show during Paris Fashion Week designed to attract members of the press Ready-to-wear and their menswear label "Monsieur" were to follow over the next five years. Viktor & Rolf also produces women's shoes and handbags (designed by Dutch designer Fredie Stevens), glasses (Asia only), neckties, scarves and lingerie. Viktor & Rolf 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.”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 Quadrilateral (Quadrilatero d'Oro) in Milan, and were contracted by L'Oreal to develop their first perfume, called Flowerbomb. In 2006, their first men's perfume, Antidote, was introduced in the US. Viktor told Harper's BAZAAR the fragrance was "all about the power of transformation. The power of every individual to turn anything into something positive."In November 2006, Viktor & Rolf followed Karl Lagerfeld and Stella McCartney in designing a line for the Swedish-based retailer H&M.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).On July 21, 2008, Viktor & Rolf announced that Renzo Rosso —owner of Diesel Jeans, chairman of Only the Brave (OTB)— has taken a controlling stake in their company. Rosso already controlled Dsquared, Maison Martin Margiela and Sophia Kokosalaki, and manufactures Vivienne Westwood's leading lines. Viktor & Rolf state that this deal is meant to allow their company to put out a wider range of products and to open more stores.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. They have also used a blue collection of clothes as a chroma-key blue-screen to project video. In their Fall 2007 collection, each model wore scaffolding with her own lights and music, to much concern for the models' safety. 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. Another noteworthy, longtime cooperation is with internationally known photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.
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