For design duo Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, fashion is an artistic tool to get their inspirations across

Often dubbed fashion’s Gilbert & George, Viktor&Rolf is known for pushing the boundaries between fashion and art. The Dutch duo of Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren took the concept even further in their latest haute couture presentation in July – their first since discontinuing their ready-to-wear business.

Ever the showmen, the duo put themselves at the centre of the show – or rather an act of performance art, which called on a certain déjà vu of their previous collections as early as the 1999 Russian Doll series, where model Maggie Rizer stood on a revolving turntable.

The haute couture collection, aptly titled “Wearable Art”, saw models donning deconstructed golden frames from which printed fabrics protruded. The designers unhinged the frames from the models and then hung the skirts-turned-paintings on a blank wall. The prints referenced works of art from the Dutch Golden Age in the 1650s, such as Jan Asselijn’s The Threatened Swan.

“We are fashion artists. This season especially we wanted to showcase this in a literal way. We consider haute couture to be like a laboratory, with every collection posing its own set of unique technical challenges,” Horsting says.

The challenge for this couture collection in particular, the duo say, was to work with “un-clothing-like elements” as structurally imposing as the frames.

Haute couture is more than just a testing ground for Viktor & Rolf – it has also freed them from the creative restrictions that come with the gruelling pace of ready-to-wear and retail.

“[We feel] that ready-to-wear, with its many deadlines and fierce competition, is creatively restraining,” Snoeren says. This sentiment towards today’s fashion industry is shared by some of the most prolific and influential designers in the trade – for example, Jean Paul Gaultier ended his ready-to-wear business last year and, more recently, Raf Simons stepped down as creative director at Dior.

Viktor and Rolf have voiced their frustrations and referenced them in their designs.

Their 2008 autumn-winter collection, for example, features the word “No” rendered in 3D as a key motif reflecting on the status quo of the fashion industry.