Viktor and Rolf’s AW22 Collection Intersects Provocative Haute Couture With Conceptual Glamour

Exhibited through three separate acts, the avant-garde fashion label presents “Power Dressing.”

  • Author: Maddie Street
  • Courtesy of Viktor & Rolf

Branching from last season’s glamorous allure of old Hollywood Dracula movies, avant-garde luxury fashion house Viktor & Rolf presented “Power Dressing” for this season’s Autumn/Winter 2022 Collection. Renowned for its unorthodox approach to conceptual glamour, the fashion house uses Haute Couture as an experimental playground for creativity. Staging signature collections expanding over twenty years – the Dutch designers are acclaimed for evoking eye-catching beauty and elegance through their collections.

Since 1998, the ingenious artistic minds of artists Viktor and Rolf have sought to challenge preconceptions of fashion and create an intersection between fashion and art, relying heavily on theatrical and performative fashion runways. Categorized in three separate acts, this AW22 “Power Dressing” collection removes the corset formwork inside the looks and displays a before, middle, and after transformation, provoking an intriguing spirit infused with surreal contrasts.

Part l.
Strutting the grid off the catwalk, like peacocks, the first act permeates radically tailored looks. Masculine coats, jackets, and shirts are narrow at the hips and cut away from the top. Hovering around the body, the looks frame and protect the shoulders and face, like delicate portrait busts. Graphic, compact fabrics underline their sculptural rigor. The surreal silhouette seems literally inflated, as if ready to explode. Instead, a harsh feeling of tension perfuses the moment.

An off-shouldered, cropped silk shirt featuring a wide collar and short tie is layered underneath a cropped, pinstripe jacket with sculptural sleeves. The design is paired with pinstripe trousers.
A draped, high-collared silk blouse is paired with a coated trench coat featuring a sculpturally layered collar and triple facing. The design is matched with grey trousers crafted from wool.
A houndstooth wool coat, shaped in an exaggerated broad shoulder silhouette, is paired with a high-collared silk shirt and textured trousers in navy.

Part ll. 
A new perspective arises without the construction that creates an illusion of power.

Part lll.
A release of tension generates comfort through the second round of radical tailoring. Hard becomes soft. Shape becomes drape. Radical is wearable.

A houndstooth wool coat, shaped in an exaggerated broad shoulder silhouette, is paired with a high-collared silk shirt and textured trousers in navy.
A brushed wool coat, shaped in an exaggerated broad shoulder silhouette, is layered on top of a draped blouse with a high collar stand, crafted from silk satin.
A checked wool jacket with a wide collar is shaped in an exaggerated broad shoulder silhouette and paired with cigarette trousers.
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