

Van Gogh Girls - Viktor&Rolf
Three creations from Viktor&Rolf’s spring/summer 2015 haute couture collection ‘Van Gogh Girls’ were shown at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen from 5 December to 14 February 2016. Art collector Han Nefkens bought the three outfits, including the spectacular finale outfit, during Paris Fashion Week and gave them on a long-term loan to the museum. The collection is made up of A-line babydoll dresses with flower prints combined with exuberant straw hats and flip-flops. With each successive dress more and more of the flowers come to life, eventually expanding to create enormous sculptural silhouettes.
The straw hats give a surreal nod to rustic country life and eventually fuse with the dresses to form a unified whole. All the fabrics were produced by VLISCO using traditional batik-inspired painting and printing techniques.

Conceptuele haute couture
Viktor Horsting (1969) and Rolf Snoeren (1969) are well known for their conceptual haute couture and unorthodox fashion shows. In the past they have presented an entire collection layer by layer on a single model, presented their clothes in a thick mist, hosted a fashion show only online, and sent models down the catwalk with light and sound installations strapped to their shoulders. Their conceptual collections often blur the distinctions between fashion and art.

Van Gogh as inspiration
For this collection Viktor&Rolf took their inspiration from the raw energy of Vincent van Gogh’s depictions of the countryside. Nature was his consolation and an inexhaustible source of new motifs for his art. This year is the 125th anniversary of the death of the artist who continues to inspire people all around the world.
Han Nefkens Fashion on the Edge


