Not in a long time have I been so enamoured with the dream of fashion that has a voice, in fact I haven’t reviewed a catwalk for years. But Viktor and Rolf’s conscious Couture collection; “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and its message of repair is full of hope and inspiration for a better world. “All the fragmented pieces can be put back together again.” I’d call that right timing, synchronicity maybe? And damn if I don’t want every outfit for every mood or persona you could ever possibly imagine, with the silhouettes and colour schemes to matchy-match. You can see I’m excited, see I first got into fashion in the 90’s, watching Noki and Preen do their best with what they had, up cycling is in my blood and this my fashionable friends is the ultimate form of it.
The collection comprised existing dresses from various decades, a carry over from last season’s idea of upcycling where they used their own designs, this time round though, you can spot Courreges and Diane Freis amongst the magnificent melange. The dresses, with visible signs of wear and tear were deconstructed and their fragments reconstructed together as surreal collages, restoring their components or broken pieces into new ensembles with unrecognisable shapes. Think the new improved you. Then, to top it all off, the heavy gold stitching that enables the collages is in reference to Kintsugi, the Japanese practice of repairing pottery in a way that highlights the cracks. And it’s here my heart yelps and roars wildly at once at the beauty of ideas behind this collection. This is upcycling, utterly on high and in a moving tribute to the beauty of imperfection and a case against waste! Now, just in case you have the cash for couture? You should know that three designs will be available for direct purchase from their website in a see now-buy now approach to couture. Me, I’m off to meditate to make them mine. Sold. X
APPETITE FOR DECORATION 