Viktor & Rolf co-curate retrospective: 'Viktor & Rolf: Fashion Artists 25 Years'

The Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, is set to open a new fashion exhibition this summer in honor of the 25th anniversary of Dutch designer duo Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, also known as Viktor & Rolf. Entitled 'Viktor & Rolf: Fashion Artists 25 Years' the new exhibition, put together by the Amsterdam-based designers themselves and Canadian curator Thierry-Maxime Loriot, aims to explore the different areas of inspiration in the designers' world.

The exhibition will present the luxury fashion house's radical conception of 'wearable art' while looking at the numerous areas that make their designs unique in the contemporary fashion world. "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 twenty-five years in the most unique and singular style," said Thierry-Maxime Loriot, curator of the exhibition.

Set to run from May 27 to September 30, 2018, the exhibition will display a number of the most spectacular and avant-garde creations from the designers haute couture work. Over 45 pieces from the designers' collections, ranging from stage costumes created for ballet and opera to designs from Viktor & Rolf's archive and international museum collections will be shown.

"After the success of our retrospective exhibition in Melbourne, we are proud that it will now be traveling to the Kunsthal Rotterdam," said Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren in a joint statement. "Apart from showing our work on the catwalk, we also enjoy presenting it as an exhibition. In this way, everyone can see it, not just that handful of people attending the shows in Paris."

In addition, the 'Viktor & Rolf: Fashion Artists 25 Years' exhibition will include a selection of Viktor & Rolf's work-in-progress "Dolls": replicas of antique dolls dressed in the designers' most iconic looks as well as special pieces from their newest collections ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ and ‘Action Dolls’, which have never been displayed before.

"The Kunsthal and Viktor & Rolf are exactly the same age. It is therefore not surprising that the two coinciding 25th anniversaries have led to this unique collaboration that perfectly matches our programming," said Emily Ansenk, Director Kunsthal. "This retrospective of the first 25 years of Viktor&Rolf stems from a great admiration for their experimental designs that are continuously exploring the boundaries between art and fashion. It offers us an extraordinary opportunity to experience the unconventional creativity of this innovative fashion duo."

The 'Viktor & Rolf: Fashion Artists 25 Years' exhibition is based on the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne exhibition.

Photo credit: Viktor& Rolf by Inez & Vinoodh, 2015 ​