At Paris Fashion Week, Viktor & Rolf turns haute couture upside down

Few are the real customers of haute couture, a protected designation that designates exceptional clothes handmade in Paris according to the rules of an endangered art. As a result, fashion shows are increasingly used as advertisements for much less expensive loss items such as makeup and perfume. For example, the house of Viktor & Rolf hasn’t sold ready-to-wear for a long time, but each of its haute couture shows offers a big media boost that serves as a favorable breeding ground for sales of its perfumes. And the latest effort by Dutch design duo Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren proves the rule.

The Viktor & Rolf Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2023 fashion show, a meme to wear

Presented in Paris on January 26, 2023, the Viktor & Rolf spring-summer 2023 haute couture collection marked the hearts of guests and social networks by showing literally upside-down dresses. Imagine the most sumptuous ball gowns attached upside down or sideways on a mannequin parading in complete relaxation. It may look fun to watch, and it’s a technical feat too! Because not only did the fashionable clothes perfectly meet the demanding codes of haute couture, but in addition, it was necessary to compete with ingenuity to create the frames that would allow them to be fixed discreetly in weightlessness on the models.

Creators Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren have a habit of creating shows overflowing with satirical humor that criticize the entertainment and consumer society, right from the eye of the storm. They therefore know very well that this fashion show of only 19 steps will be more than enough to get people talking about them on social media. Wearable memes cut to buzz and sell perfume like pancakes.

Front page photo credit: Viktor & Rolf.

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