Viktor&Rolf - Осень 2009 ready-to-wear

PARIS, March 9, 2009 By Nicole Phelps With Greco-Roman sculptures as a backdrop, Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren sent out a Fall collection based on classical draping. It's become an important trend this season, but leave it to the eccentric Dutchmen to tweak it mightily. They swagged liquid jersey to create suits that resembled nothing if not theater curtains, but preferred mostly to carry out their experiments with stiff woolens in shades of off-white, stone, loden, and black. The folds that decorated the opening coat looked as immobile as those you might see on the marble muse Melpomene at the Louvre. On other pieces, like a vest and a long skirt, they seemed to have been pressed flat: 3-D decorations rendered in 2-D. Even more peculiar was a long skirt faceted like diamonds, made from a leaden material reminiscent of concrete. To be clear, there were some elegant pieces—notably a soft gray dress topstitched in a trompe l'oeil style to evoke ruffles, or the printed silk chiffon shirtdresses—and these have a plausible future off the runway. But with the models' faces and necks whitened, the better to resemble the statues behind them, the concept obscured the clothes.