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If guests read the show notes prior to Thursday’s Viktor & Rolf show at La galerie de Minéralogie et de Géologie in Paris quoting Jules Verne’s A Journey to the Centre of the Earth as its main inspiration thinking they were in for a Victorian treat, they had another thing coming. “The starting point,” the Dutch duo explained backstage, “was the centre of the Earth” itself. “Darkness, minerals, very grainy, very dark greys, blacks and metallic shiny effects.” An oversize drop-shoulder coat compiled of tens of granular greys seemed to sum up the collection to perfection. “It’s a bigger shape than usual. A bigger shoulder. A more rounded shoulder. We like the effect of the seaming on the outside,” Rolf Snoeren told i-D. But the collection wasn’t all grey and boxy. Prints commissioned from Dutch artist Piet Parra provided some jazz in the shape of doodles of articles of clothing and accessories, as well typography motifs. And Monsieur Verne himself? “We always start with the historic, but it should also be young and cool,” Rolf said. “So we thought, ‘Jules Verne, he’s kind of an eccentric guy’.”
Text: Anders Christian Madsen
Photography: Mitchell Sams
