Viktor & Rolf are internationally renowned as the Gilbert and George of the fashion world for presenting conceptual work as sophisticated art performances in haute couture and pret-a-porter shows. Take their installation of their Spring/Summer 1996 collection in a contemporary art gallery in Paris October 1995. Titled "L'Appearance du vide" as a reaction against the fickle focus on supermodels of the fashion industry, golden dresses hung in the air like empty shells while the black clothes were cast like shadows or discarded second skins on the floor. The models were only present in the form of their names projected on the walls and whispered through speakers.
They explain the consistent success of their collaboration with the sum 1+1=3. For the "Colors: Viktor & Rolf KCI" exhibition, which opened at the Mori Art Museum last week, the Kyoto Costume Institute (KCI) invited the Dutch fashion-design duo to co-curate, with their chief curator, Fukai Akiko, a study of the perception and relevance of color over the last 400 years.
In this exhibition, they integrate their own work, influenced by the history of art, fashion and society, with over 80 pieces selected from the KCI collection of over 11,000 Western-style dresses from 17th-century to the present