In Haute Abstraction, presented at the Grand Hôtel, in a purple-carpeted ring, the body performs a circus, trained in the stylistic exercises of two haute couture geometers.
Enmeshed in a 3D triangle, literally boxed in a parallelepiped, the mutant body has always been at the heart of Viktor and Rolf's obsessions. Here, in a flashback to 'Atomic Bomb' (Fall-Winter 1998), which erupted in the shape of nuclear mushrooms, and following from 'Surréal Shoulder' (Fall-Winter 2022), this new library of shapes combines the art of the straight line with an impressive lesson in post-modern geometry, meticulous mastery matched with a performance flair.
Oversized lines, fragments, quadrilaterals and wacky triangles evoke the sharp edges of Gareth Pugh (Carbon Life), not to mention the stripes of Leigh Bowery. A vertiginous tilt of a jacket, asymmetrical horn sleeves, giant bows, a globe blouse – one can't help but think of the dance costumes that have turned choreography into a field of experimentation. Here, the mind circles back on Régine Chopinot and Jean Paul Gaultier (1985), Walter Van Beireindonck in Sous Apparence (2012), Rei Kawabubo for Merce Cunningham (1998), and even earlier, the research of Oskar Schlemmer, pioneer of the Bauhaus and of the ballet Triadique given in 1922, whose geometric costumes responded to the “pleasure of playing with shapes, colours and new materials.”
