‘Angry Birds’
For Autumn/Winter 2025, Viktor&Rolf present a striking study in duality: a parade of fifteen pairs of identical garments, thirty looks in total, that explores the expressive potential of presence and absence, of spectacular and subtlety.
Each pair features two versions of the same black outfit. One version is voluminously stuffed with vibrant and colourful feathers, sculpting an exuberant, couture-inspired sillhouette, crowned with custom hats by milliner Stephen Jones. Its alter ego, by contrast, appears featherless and unadorned, resulting in a fluid, softened silhouette.
Technically identical, yet entirely transformed: the all-black, featherless look becomes the quiet shadow, the stark antithesis of its extravagant predecessor. The looks are completed with custom satin heels by Christian Louboutin.
Viktor&Rolf
Here, feathers do more than embellish, they define. For centuries, they have adorned garments and accessories. While symbol of wealth, status and refined taste, they also carry a deeper, spiritual connotation: freedom, transcendence, and spiritual elevation.
In the world of Haute Couture, feathers evoke luxury and fantasy. True to their subversive spirit, Viktor&Rolf transforms this traditionally ornamental element into the very architecture of the collection itself. As Monsieur Lemarié, legendary Parisian plumassier once remarked, “My feathers are not beautiful. It is the air between them that makes them beautiful.”
Exactly so. This is the air, this space, that gives substance and life to the expressive volumes of the collection. Once removed, the garments deflate, both literally and figuratively, revealing a quieter essence beneath the spectacle.
This season’s vision recalls Viktor&Rolf’s first Haute Couture FW98–99 collection, in which monumental shapes were also shown twice, with and without the bombastic volumes.
Grotesque and menacing silhouettes thereby transformed into wearable and soft clothes. Then, as now, the experimental becomes approachable, the conceptual, wearable.
Autumn/Winter 2025 pushes these ideas even further. Expressive, spectacular and performative outfits simultaneously prove to be introverted, subtle and personal as well. These puffed ‘angry birds’ are not just playful, they are about to break free.
All ‘feathers’ in this collection are cruelty free and made out of fabric: trompe-l’oeil works of couture artistry.
Credits
Production: Obo
PR: Lucien Pages
Music: Mode-F
Styling: Jos van Heel
Hair: Olivier Schawalder
Make-up: Yadim Carranza
Nails: Daniel Smedeman
Casting: Adam Hindle Casting
Choreograhy: Nathalie Haerlemans
Photography: GoRunway, abdmstudio, mldutel
Videography: Titre Provisoire
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