Fashion or Art?

Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren founded the Amersterdam-based fashion house Viktor & Rolf back in 1993 and have since cranked out some remarkable collections, often fusing art and fashion in unexpected ways. In what amounted to more a performance piece than your average collection reveal, the two designers recently revealed their Wearable Art collection at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris.

photo: long evening dresses

The duo first outfitted models with fragments of imagery held together with hinged frames, before later disassembling the assemblages and hanging them on the walls, thus transforming fashion into art. The pieces were apparently purchased by a Dutch collector, who will donate them to a museum. Fun stuff. Here's what the designers had to say about their collection:

"Art comes to life in a gallery of surreal proportions. A dress transforms into an artwork, back into a dress and into an artwork again. Poetry becomes reality, morphing back into fantasy.

"Action painting meets Baroque. Paint is splattered – canvas is smashed. Cracked textile frames unleash the silhouette and create a voluminous bend of reality. Intricate motifs parade the catwalk, transforming Golden Age paintings with the rawness and spontaneity of action painting. The painterly gesture is achieved through trompe l'oeil techniques: each artwork is executed in a complex layering of laser-cut jacquards, embroideries and appliqués."

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