The wedding dress.Photo: nytimes.com
Tomorrow a retrospective of work by Viktor & Rolf will open in London’s Barbican. But as these are the designers who famously had their models on hooks one season, this is no ordinary show. Oh no, this retrospective will be presented on two-foot-tall porcelain dolls. Yes, it’s like the high-fashion Barbie and American Girl dolls you always wanted. But so much better. Dutch design duo Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren concocted the doll concept because they didn’t want their retrospective to be like any old retrospective. Showcasing 55 pieces from the past fifteen years, a 28-foot tall, 24-room dollhouse is filled with dolls clad in miniature versions of some of their most memorable creations. The designers had to re-create each piece in miniature form, which they said was like making 30 collections.
Horsting and Snoeren have been blogging about putting the final touches on the exhibit on the Moment for the New York Times. They’ve got pictures of a few miniature outfits, including the wedding gown they created for HRH Princess Mabel van Oranje-Nassau in 2004, a Tilda Swinton doll wearing the “Simone” from fall 2003, and a Karolina Kurkova doll from the spring 2005 Flower Bomb collection.
Surrounding the dollhouse, life-size porcelain dolls will wear regular-size outfits while video from runway shows play behind them. The exhibit runs until September 21, so you have a while to save up and get your ass to London. Good luck resisting playing with them when you get there.
The Doll House [WWD]
For the Moment | Viktor & Rolf Host a Costume Ball [Moment/NYT]
