Type Private Company Website www.viktor-rolf.com Founded 1993, Paris, France | Industry Fashion Headquarters Amsterdam, Netherlands Parent organization OTB Group | |
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Key people Viktor Horsting & Rolf Snoeren (Co-founders and Partners)
Renzo Rosso, Only the Brave Group, Partner Products Apparel and Accessories Profiles | ||
Viktor & Rolf is a Dutch luxury fashion house. The company was founded in 1993 by designers Viktor Horsting (born 1969, Geldrop) and Rolf Snoeren (born 1969, Dongen).
Contents
History
Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren met while studying fashion at the Arnhem Academy of Art and Design in The Netherlands. They began working together upon graduation. In 1993 they won a talent contest at the Festival International de Mode et de Photographie in Hyères, and moved to Paris in the same year.
Viktor & Rolf started making ready-to-wear clothes in 2000. In 2006, they designed clothes for the high street chain H&M.
In 2008 Italian clothing magnate Renzo Rosso, President of OTB Group, the holding group of Maison Martin Margiela, Marni and Diesel, bought a controlling interest in the company.
Shows
In 1998, Viktor & Rolf put on an unauthorized fashion show during Paris Fashion Week to attract members of the press. In a show called "Russian Doll" they dressed model Maggie Rizer in layer upon layer of couture dresses, piled on top of one another. They have also used a collection of International Klein Blue clothes as a chroma-key blue-screen to project video. Their collections have featured performers such as Tilda Swinton, Tori Amos, Rufus Wainwright, Róisín Murphy, Brigitte and Joan Wasser. Another longtime cooperation is with photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.
In 2005 they opened their first shop in the Golden Quadrilateral (Quadrilatero d'Oro) in Milan (which closed in 2008), and were contracted by L'Oréal to develop their first perfume, called Flowerbomb. In 2006, their first men's perfume, Antidote, was introduced in the United States.
In 2008 an exhibition entitled "The House of Viktor & Rolf" was presented at the Barbican Art Gallery.
Exhibitions
Viktor & Rolf have been included in exhibitions including Creative Time in the Anchorage: Exposing Meaning in Fashion through Presentation, Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage, New York, United States (May 1999).