With Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2022, Viktor&Rolf create spectacular beauty, utilizing their work to transform the notion of fear - which the present currently offers - into something positive.
Fear can be overpowering. There are always reasons to be afraid and the present offers many. The situation in the world, uncertainty about the future, our vulnerability, and lack of control. Such emotions can be paralyzing, however, they can also be used creatively.
The notion of fear made fashion artists Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren think of the glamorous allure of old Hollywood Dracula movies, where dramatic effects of light and shadow transform reality and create a feeling of alienation and suspense. Dracula symbolised a fear of societal change, one that is prevalent again in today's world.
The archetypal film scene of Dracula's deformed, elongated silhouette in backlight made Viktor&Rolf think of a look from their award-winning Hyeres collection from 1993, the collection that started it all. It had an exaggerated, high shoulderline, creating a distorted, elongated silhouette. As if the human figure was stretched to a maximum, glorifying the head and face while protecting the neck.
This season, the entire collection is treated with this same 'new' shoulderline.
Dracula's tuxedo with cape is one of the most iconic outfits in Hollywood. Taking this look as a starting point, most outfits are stark and monochromatic with a 'gothic' feel.
For the first time since a couple of seasons, the collection includes an important section of tailoring. Its play with proportions is typical of Viktor&Rolf's stylistic vocabulary. Furthermore, a wide variety of dresses is shown, ranging from billowy sheaths to sculptural ballgowns.
Fabrics are either crisp or gauzy, but always compact to support the architectural shapes.
Colours are muted, playing on contrasts of dark and light, with some delicate pastels, chalk white and the occasional pop of cerise red.
The only decoration can be found on a trio of floorlength evening dresses in black and white, pale pink and black. Each one is hand embroidered in an artwork of diaphanous, wilting flowers, executed in scraps of delicate fabric, beads and paillettes.
The collection is crafted with a mingling of fabrics, notably using conscious materials through a first couture collaboration with TENCEL™ LUXE. This season's look is complemented with the third season of Melissa / Viktor&Rolf vegan shoes.