The exhibition presents looks from the past fifteen seasons on custom-made life-size porcelain dolls with the features painted and the hair styled to resemble the model that initially wore that garment. The other-worldly beauty of these dolls is surreal and somewhat unsettling.
My favourite garments were from Flowerbomb 2005 where bows and ribbons decorated the outfits like an exquisite partly unwrapped gift.
 |
| Flowerbomb Collection Spring/Summer 2005 Photo by Ingrid Mida 2008 |
 |
| Viktor & Rolf White collection 2002 Photo by Ingrid Mida 2008 |
 |
| Viktor & Rolf White Collection 2002 Photo by Ingrid Mida |
One of the most meaningful parts of the exhibition for me was seeing the evolution of Viktor and Rolf's artistic vision and success. They are true artists as much as they are fashion designers. A dress is more than a dress; it has to express a vision and conform to the theme for the season. A key part of their development seemed to be the 1996 collection which presented their collection in miniature. The designers said that "we created a series of miniature installations visualizing our strongest ambitions: a doll on a catwalk, a doll in a photo studio, a miniature boutique and so forth. The dolls were an abstraction of people and the scenes they enacted showed a life we desired but only dared to dream of."
House of Viktor and Rolf June 18-September 21, 2008
Barbican Art Gallery
Silk Street, London, England EC2Y 8DS
www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery