Skip to main content
Viktor and Rolf

Viktor and Rolf

Title
Honorary Fellow
Person Type
Honorary
Viktor and Rolf

Biography

Honorary Doctor

Widely recognized and respected for its provocative Haute Couture and conceptual glamour, the house of Viktor&Rolf aspires to create spectacular beauty and unexpected elegance through an unconventional approach to fashion. 

Viktor&Rolf is the avant-garde luxury fashion house founded in 1993 by fashion artists Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren after their graduation from the Arnhem Academy of Art and Design.

Widely recognized and respected for its provocative Haute Couture and conceptual glamour, the house of Viktor&Rolf aspires to create spectacular beauty and unexpected elegance through an unconventional approach to fashion.

Staging signature collections for over twenty years during Paris Fashion Week – ever since the first Haute Couture collection in Spring/Summer 1998 – Viktor&Rolf creations evoke a provocative spirit infused with surreal contrasts. With Mariage and Soir, Viktor&Rolf presents its luxury bridal and eveningwear collections -  an exploration of iconic elements inspired by classic couture influences.

Viktor&Rolf’s luxury products include Viktor&Rolf Tulle, exclusive eyewear line Viktor&Rolf Vision, and an addictive catalogue of fragrances featuring worldwide bestsellers: Flowerbomb, Spicebomb, Bonbon and Magic.

Known for a unique, art-centric and oftentimes surreal approach to fashion, Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren graduated from the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Arnhem, the Netherlands, in 1992. Thereafter, they began a creative collaboration which, just a year later, would result in them finding notable success at Hyeres, the Festival International de Mode et de Photographie. Viktor & Rolf the brand was born.

The duo showcased their first couture collection in January 1998, followed by their first ready-to-wear collection in 2000. Conceptual but always glamorous, the pair became known for their thought-provoking shows, some of which they even featured in as part of the performance.

In April 2002, Viktor & Rolf signed a global beauty contract with cosmetics giant L’Oreal, which would see them launch a string of successful fragrances – Flowerbomb, their first female scent, among them.

The brand’s first menswear collection launched in January 2003, and a collaboration with high-street label H&M followed in 2006. The duo celebrated 15 years in fashion in 2008 with the exhibition The House of Viktor & Rolf at the Barbican in London. That same year, the pair entered into a business partnership with Diesel owner Renzo Russo of the holding company Only The Brave. By 2015, the designers had decided to streamline their operations, closing down their ready-to-wear line to focus solely on their couture and fragrance output.