Abstract
Abstract This article seeks to challenge the way in which journalistic and academic discourses on the conceptual fashion of Dutch designers Viktor&Rolf privilege ideas over the materiality of fashion. Whereas Viktor&Rolf have been considered predominantly as late-twentieth-century conceptual designers, we aim to offer an alternative reading of Viktor&Rolf’s fashion practices. Through a detailed visual analysis of renowned Viktor&Rolf collections, Russian Doll (Autumn/Winter 1999–2000) and Glamour Factory (Autumn/Winter 2010–11), and a discourse analysis of the reception of these collections in the international fashion press, we propose to rethink their conceptual approach through a material lens. Reflecting on the dominant discourse of the conceptual in the field of fashion studies, we develop an argument on the inextricable entanglement of concept and materiality in terms of a material-discursive ‘intra-action’ (Barad 1996, 2003; Parkins 2008). Instead of viewing the materiality of fashion as a blank slate awaiting signification, we offer a reconceptualization of how the meanings, signs, values, concepts and ideas of fashion objects, and their material expression, are mutually constituted. By doing so, we provide a fresh perspective on the ways in which Viktor&Rolf’s work can be understood as an intimate encounter between concept and materiality.
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