stylemywardrobe.com

by Katie Wright

Most designers seem reluctant even to take their bow at the end of a fashion show, ducking out briefly to take three steps down the run way before retreating rapidly. They prefer to let the clothes – and the fierce stomping models – do the talking. So it was a surprise to see Dutch design duo- Viktor Horsting and Ralf Snoeren- follow model Kristen McMenamy out as she opened the Viktor and Rolf autumn/winter 2010 show during Paris Fashion Week. However, you could barely make them out from behind a huge dark tweed coat with fur collar that stretched the span of nearly three people (or four emaciated models), and they proceeded to stay on stage for the remainder of this typically highly conceptual affair. It turned out the first look was not just one coat, but all 25 of the show’s looks piled on top of each other. As models entered, Horsting and Snoeren peeled clothes quite literally from McMenamy’s back to dress the other girls for their turns on the runway, before loading them all back up again.

This was an almost entirely black collection, formed of multipurpose garments that the designers-cum-stylists transformed before the audience’s very eyes. Skirts became capes, capes morphed into coats, and coats were turned inside out, all by way of zips, toggles and drawstring. These dangling accoutrements added a vaguely street edge to the collection, on top of a luxe fabric base of brocade, tweed, silk and chiffon. Once the final transfiguration of a wide, tapering, many-layered tulle skirt into a huge ruff was complete, McMenamy must have been struggling to stay upright.

Silhouettes were, for the most part, loose and boxy; necessarily so, presumably, in order to enable the grand pile-up – 25 layers of bodycon dresses just wouldn’t have worked. To that end, did the dressing-up theatricality detract from the actual clothing? Well, kind of, but when it’s this fun to watch, I think Viktor and Rolf can be forgiven.

Remember when Rihanna rocked Viktor and Rolf twice in one week?

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE