Riding the wave of the latest Met Gala, IULM University has had the honour to host a talk with vanguard designers, Viktor and Rolf, the founders of Viktor&Rolf. The two took to the stage in front of a full house, in the Auditorium, on the 6th of May. Here’s what went down!
The orange army of fashion
Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren met in 1988 while studying at the Arnhem Academy of Art and Design. They shared that even though they studied different programs, their common passion for fashion brought them together. With no idea about how the fashion world worked, they chose to go to Paris in search of an apprenticeship.
“When we finished our studies, we realized that it wasn’t going to happen in Arnhem, a career. (…) we had dreams to go to Paris (…) we had dreams of fashion, period.” and so the search for their first job in the industry began. No one informed them, though, that just moving to one of the most important fashion cities in the world wasn’t going to be enough. Even though the move to Paris didn’t immediately turn into a career, it brought them closer to their ultimate dream.
The first steps towards their now empire were made when they joined a design competition in the South of France. They confessed that back then, they had no idea they would start a business together, hence why, when they won they didn’t have a joint name so the presenter called them on stage by the name “Viktor and Rolf”. That’s history being made.
An ohmage to art
When asked how important art is to them, the two had an interesting backstory. Viktor&Rolf’s collections are often compared to art, or better yet, walking art. That is because, besides drawing strong influence from art, the beginnings of the brand are deeply rooted in art.
When they first started out, because they were yet to delve into ready to wear or collections in general, they would put on shows that had individual pieces. The low budget brought them to host these events in artistic places: museums, exhibition halls, art galleries. So, the constant recall to art is an ohmage to their first pieces and steps into the fashion industry. When asked what their advice to the younger generations of aspiring creators was, the masterminds behind Viktor&Rolf agreed that besides following your dreams, knowing you classics is fundamental. Having the curiosity to learn from what was there before you, in art, literature, sociology, is a big step because everything has already been created. This previous knowledge helps you interpret better the future.
Bringing back from the past
Viktor&Rolf are known for their exuberant designs. They admitted that as of right now, one of their biggest concerns, as everyone else’s, are sustainability and climate impact. In the fashion industry, waste is the law and maisons are trying to cut back on their impact on the planet.
The duo described how they like to go back and look at their designs to understand where there could be room for improvement, both in their own archive but also of others. Multiple of their collections used consecrated materials of other maisons such as Balenciaga. They also admitted that with other brands trying to cater to the modest trend, Viktor&Rolf doesn’t feel a pressure to oblige.
Every collection the brand makes efforts to stay on the sustainable route and one of the factors that has helped this is the fact that the founders, Viktor and Rolf have stayed on the board of directors for the past 30 years. While saying they like to steer away from questions involving the ever-changing creative direction of other brands, Rolf said that something the two are very proud of has been seeing their dreams evolve at their maison for all these years.
The conversation with the two was really insightful for aspiring fashion enthusiasts. IULM University is the first university in Italy that got Viktor&Rolf to come speak to their students and it was an unmissable event for sure.
