Viktor and Rolf SS 2012 Review

 Okay ladies, srsly, look at that dress on the far left. How do you piece that together so seamlessly? Viktor and Rolf are witches. 

Viktor and Rolf chose dolls clothes as the inspiration for their latest collection. It worked well with their interests in proportion and shape despite being a little poorly received by critics.
Though it wasn’t their most avant garde collection there was a ton of stuff that was on-trend but still had that VnR touch without making them look like a bore. The wide, Barbie doll-sized belts were also at Céline and the brocade swirls were at Stella McCartney too. Some very simple cut A-line high-waisted skirts and dresses were like those at Miu Miu and the mid-riff exposing crop tops, well they showed up in a number of collections too. Whether or not crop tops will make a comeback is up to you.

There were a series of outfits that had cut-outs of baroque swirls. I cannot fathom how this was done because the construction is flawless. There’s not a single spot of puckering seam edges which can be quite common in this type of work but for Viktor and Rolf? Nothing. I can only presume these were laser cut but still, to piece these together with mesh inserts seamlessly is unreal. It honestly blew me away.

Me Gusta

Above: Celine. Georjizz

Oh Katie, stop

Above: Comme Des Garcons. There was even some bewb in this show! Above CDG is Viktor & Rolf. 

Above: Soft painterly Cacharel. Above Cacharel is Carven. 

Hola! (that's Spanish for hello)

Well fashion week is coming to an end and on Wednesday I'm taking off to South America for 3 weeks. I don't believe I'll be blogging in that time. I think I'll just be a bloated disgusting tourist experiencing the rich culture of Argentina, eating steak and drinking way too much wine.

Unfortunately I don't have time to riff on all the collections from Paris so far. It's been quite a week. Not an article goes by without someone mentioning Galliano or how orgasmic Haider Ackermann is. I have a feeling he may be the chosen one to helm Dior.
Christophe Decarnin has a major case of the sads and wasn't at Balmain, though you wouldn't know it by looking at the clothes. Same old pants, t-shirt, jacket combo. I actually liked it, the ikat details.

There's also been whispers that Hannah Macgibbon may be out at Chloe. Now that would not surprise me. Some people dig her quietly glamorous clothes but I find them a little too quiet. A little too vacant and neither here nor there.

Phoebe Philo makes my panties ping yet again. I know some of you guys are like fuck minimalism but I just can't help myself. The leather, the chiffon, the rough fabrics, the new doctor's bag. She's so talented and knows exactly what she wants.

 Cedric Charlier at Cacharel just gets better with each season. For fall there was plenty of layering and expert colours. I love this collection very much. Sorely underrated.

Also, Carven, amazeballs.

Waaah, I wanna stay up all night and write reviews.

So what do I think after 4 weeks of New York, London, Milan and Paris?

Viktor & Rolf's Balancing Act

Above: How did a dress turn into the coat below? Cray²

To be truly appreciated, you needed to be at the Viktor & Rolf show. I like so many others was not fortunate enough to be invited to such an illustrious event so it was with much confusion that I viewed thir collection in image form. At first I had no idea what was going on with V&R on stage until I went to their charming website and viewed a video of the show.

Kristen Mcmenamy precariously wobbled out to the centre of the stage followed by V&R.

A near-naked model then came out and stood opposite Mcmenamy while V&R removed a layer of clothing from Mcmenamy. They zipped, pulled, ruffed and adjusted what was essentially a pup tent into a jaunty, belted fur coat. This was probably my favourite look from the whole collection.

So this undressing and redressing continued until Mcmenamy was nearly naked until fully dressed models came out and V&R undressed them and put the clothes back on to Mcmenamy, reversing the whole thing. It sounds confusing and you need to watch the video because it’s not as confusing as I make it out to be. Unfortunately most of the clothes were a little uninspired and I think V&R have struggled for many seasons now with the demand to create something that’s commercially viable and to follow their surrealist hearts. It’s sad but the work they were doing 10 years ago was far more interesting than what we see now but unfortunately art and hype doesn’t always keep a business running, just ask Miguel Androver.

Well done old chap!

GET INSPIRED

Viktor & Rolf Spring 2010, Paris. Thats a pregnant Roisin Murphy to the right.

VIKTOR & ROLF SPRING 2010

This would have to be one of Viktor & Rolf’s best collections in years and I say that simply because of the avant garde/editorial pieces they did. I’ve never been a fan of their RWT and would fail to pick out their work in a line-up particularly since they’ve become so commercial recently and were verging on irrelevance. It was a relief to see them dream again and have some fun.
There were Bowie-inspired, French 80’s disco references and tulle that was heavily built up on dresses and gently fucked with a chainsaw (thanks Heathers). But it wasn’t all over the top magazine spread stuff, they had a perfect balance between that and clothes that can come straight off the rack like the nude tops and dresses trimmed with black.