Avant-garde designers Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren have always pushed the creative envelope to blur the lines between fashion and art. In a visionary move, the Dutch designer duo make their directorial debut with short film ‘Nightwatch’ that looks into the genesis of their couture collection ‘Wearable Art’.
By Aishwarya Tyagi
Viktor&Rolf ‘Wearable Art’, Paris Haute Couture autumn/winter 2015
We were mesmerized by Viktor & Rolf’s ‘Wearable Art’ collection at the autumn/winter 15 couture show in Paris where the models walked the runway draped in cloth, as if it were canvas removed from gilded frames. The designers’ collaborated with the Rijks Museum in Netherlands, to reproduce some of their most coveted oil paintings onto the pieces for the runway collection. Their notoriety for silhouettes, prints and craftsmanship lead for the show to be one of the most debated topics on the give-and-take relationship between art and fashion.
Behind-the-scenes Nightwatch, a film by Viktor&Rolf
Behind-the-scenes Nightwatch, a film by Viktor&Rolf
‘Nightwatch’ features the designers’ muse Valentijn de Hingh, as a robber intruding Amsterdam’s Rijks museum in the darkest hour of the night, aiming for ‘The Threatened Swan’, a masterpiece created by Dutch Golden Age painter Jan Asselijn dating back to 1650s. The painting eventually ends up as a motif on the woven jacquards the couturiers used for their runway couture robes. ‘The Threatened Swan’ was the centrepiece of the designers’ July presentation and ‘Nightwatch’ is a movie featuring the grand theft of the art piece and the crushing of the canvas and frame to create the outfit.
This directorial debut opens up a new chapter in the story of Viktor & Rolf’s fashion journey and we can’t wait to see what the future of couture holds.
The Threatened Swan, Jan Asselijn, c. 1650
