{"id":68791,"date":"2025-10-09T23:11:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T23:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/68791\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T23:11:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T23:11:07","slug":"viktor-rolf-exhibition-debuts-at-the-high-museum-of-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/68791\/","title":{"rendered":"Viktor & Rolf Exhibition Debuts at the High Museum of Art"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tViktor & Rolf\u2019s designers Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren helped celebrate Wednesday night\u2019s opening of a retrospective of their work at the High Museum of Art<\/a> in Atlanta<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tMore than 100 examples of their designs are on view in \u201cViktor & Rolf<\/a>. Fashion Statements,\u201d\u00a0which highlights the Dutch designers\u2019 ability over 30-plus years to create haute\u00a0couture<\/a>\u00a0that challenges what constitutes\u00a0art<\/a>. The exhibition is set up in nine chapters \u2014 \u201cFashion Artists,\u201d \u201cRussian Dolls,\u201d \u201cFashion Statements,\u201d \u201cThe Dolls,\u201d \u201cZen Garden,\u201d \u201cPerforming Fashion,\u201d \u201cViktor & Rolf<\/a> on Stage\u201d and \u201cUpcycling Couture.\u201d Pleased with the symmetry of \u201cViktor & Rolf<\/a>. Fashion Statements\u201d and the welcome response they are receiving, the pair spoke with WWD Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for what jumps out at the pair seeing the retrospective, Snoeren said, \u201cHow hard we worked \u2014 how much we did. Also, there is a sense of gratitude that we\u2019re still here and that we\u2019re still best friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHorsting added, \u201cThat we\u2019re here in the United States with our very first big exhibition is very special. It makes you humble.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile the exhibition is about Viktor & Rolf\u2019s brand and their work, it is not a brand-sponsored show.<\/p>\n

\n\tSnoeren added, \u201cWalking through the exhibition, you see that sometimes the collections are a little more romantic. Somehow the mood changes, but you see the elements that we work with are always the same. It\u2019s nice to see that continuation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHaving just shown the Viktor & Rolf ready-to-wear collection in Paris last week, the pair said their team, as well as the High Museum and the exhibition\u2019s curator Thierry-Maxime Loriot worked on the exhibition \u201cvery intensely.\u201d The fact that the designers and curator had coordinated on the exhibition before, as it was previously staged in Munich, helped to lighten the load.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith fashion-themed exhibitions increasingly gaining interest at museums and cultural institutions in world capitals, the High Museum\u2019s opening in Atlanta<\/a> is significant, since secondary cities are trying to follow that lead. Snoeren said, \u201cIt comes down to what museums have the budgets to do it. The High Museum had a big sponsor, Lauren Amos, so they are able to do these things. Fashion exhibitions are quite costly. It\u2019s also very rewarding, when a show like this travels.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier this year, Amos, a longtime board member and owner of the speciality store Antidote, made a multimillion-dollar donation to fund fashion exhibitions. Holding the exhibition in Georgia also offers \u201ca pull factor on a national level,\u201d Horsting said. \u201cWith social media, the information will get dispersed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tVisiting Atlanta for the first time, the duo noted how hot, humid and friendly the city is. On the heels of having received \u201cquite positive\u201d reviews for their rtw return, the designers will hold a trunk show at Antidote on Friday. The designers\u2019 reentry has involved reorganizing how their collections are made with much more of an in-house approach, which keeps everything closer to them.<\/p>\n

\n\tAll in all though, the fashion world is inspiring them today, they said. \u201cWe find fascinating \u2014 the rules, the hierarchy, the shows. It\u2019s something that inspires us to design,\u201d Snoeren said.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for the changing of the guard at some of the major luxury houses, \u201cThat is fascinating as well \u2014 how that works, the attention it gets and thinking about our own place in the system. We see ourselves as people who have one foot in the fashion system and one foot out of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tHorsting added, \u201cWe\u2019re starting to feel like the last of the Mohicans. We\u2019re one of the few founders of a brand that are also still connected to our brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile what makes shoppers spend is an eternal question, he suggested originality, authenticity and the desire to have something that you are the only one, or among the few, that has it. There also needs to be a personal connection to whatever you buy \u2014 something that triggers a desire. \u201cThere\u2019s so much that doesn\u2019t happen easily.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked if there was anything they wished people understood more about their work, the designers laughed. All in all, their strategy is to be complex to demonstrate how things can be several things at once. Snoeren said, \u201cSometimes that complexity can stand in the way of\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAppreciation,\u201d offered Horsting.<\/p>\n

\n\tSnoeren continued, \u201cYou know an audience taps into a certain layer in your humor or\u2026in the end, the complexity is sometimes hard to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAgreeing that the \u201cbeauty is in the depth,\u201d he added, \u201cYes, and the mystery.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe ever-shrinking attention span of the world at large is widely known. \u201cWe all have shorter attention spans, including myself,\u201d Snoeren said.<\/p>\n

\n\tHorsting added, \u201cYes, but we all want to be stimulated and challenged to find something new and authentic. I tend to think that it\u2019s our job to be clear. It\u2019s our job to communicate and to reach that audience. I\u2019d sooner blame myself than the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLooking ahead, the pair will be judging a contest in Hy\u00e8res, and then they will be off to Doha in Qatar for a Fashion Trust Arabia event. There\u2019s also the next Viktor & Rolf couture show to prepare for in January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Viktor & Rolf\u2019s designers Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren helped celebrate Wednesday night\u2019s opening of a retrospective of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1228,442,498,499,500,17480,501,55061,156,55062,111,139,69,55063],"class_list":{"0":"post-68791","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-art","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-artsdesign","13":"tag-atlanta","14":"tag-design","15":"tag-design-museum","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-hyeres","18":"tag-new-zealand","19":"tag-newzealand","20":"tag-nz","21":"tag-viktor-rolf"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}