A Journey into Absurd Abstraction

Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren revisited their archives for today’s couture collection, inspired by their second collection 26 years ago, which featured mushroom-cloud silhouettes and exaggerated, absurd shapes. “We liked the idea of doing something absurd, that makes no sense,” they explained. This season, they pushed this concept further, juxtaposing the human body with abstract shapes, showcasing couture as an exaggeration of abstraction.

The Dutch designers played with geometric forms, creating garments with rectangular, triangular, spherical, and trapezoid volumes. Highlights included a fuchsia fabric dress resembling a soft coffin, a miniskirt-suit jacket with trapezoid shoulders, and a multicoloured coat made of 3D squares. A balloon-like pleated shirt seemed to explode from a black-and-white blazer.

This collection embodied virtuosic absurdity, blending Euclidean geometry with Bauhaus influences. “Couture for us is a lab of experiments and inventions,” they said, praising abstraction and inviting viewers to interpret freely. The abstract soundtrack echoed this theme, adding to the collection’s enigmatic allure.