Viktor & Rolf's pre-fall collection married the big-city chic of the tuxedo to the outdoors rootsiness of the lumberjack. Huh? "We like to reconcile opposites," said Viktor Hortsing. "The tux is close to us but we also wanted an element of something rough and easy." The image on a T-shirt and shawl functioned as a kind of manifesto; in it, a photograph of elegantly entwined hands holding a cigarette was printed on a buffalo check backdrop. That red and black check—the ultimate lumberjack reference—was replicated in Viktor & Rolf's beloved trompe l'oeil, as organza ribbons stitched in squares. The check was also exploded into a single red square on a sweater, or blurred into a pattern on a chiffon blouse. If you cared to step back and squint, there might have been lumberjack references in the quilted sleeve on a jacket, or the duffel coat reconfigured as a cape. And worlds undoubtedly collided with the jean jacket appliquéd on a tuxedo jacket, or the red felt boots with the ultra-heel. There was something a little Twin Peaks-y about the culture clash, which probably gels perfectly with V&R's appetite for disorientation. If only you could imagine it in the real world.
