The idea Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren had for Spring—to riff on a man's shirt—was a simple one, and timely, too, given all the recent talk about classic sportswear. What the Dutch duo put on the runway, however, was a collection of quite theatrical clothes. No surprise there, perhaps. It started with a banker's striped button-down, only it had been turned into a short shirtdress made from strips of embroidered blue ribbons with—count 'em—four collars and four sets of cuffs skipping up the arms. And it ended with a wedding gown that spanned the width of the runway, its skirts made from shirt tails and the bodice from starchy pearl-studded collars sticking out every which way, including up past the model's earlobes.
There's a bridezilla joke in there somewhere, but we'll refrain from making it because other staples of a man's wardrobe also got the V&R treatment, and not always with such over-the-top results. A pair of shirtdresses, one side fitted, the other softly draping off the shoulder, could believably make the leap from catwalk to street. And there will be some clamoring among the pop-star set for poufy dresses inset with lace at the waist, down the side of one torso, or on the sleeves.
But the look that had everyone talking was an understated white shirt cropped at the waist with its tails extending into a train. It was paired with plain black pants, and it'd actually make a great wedding outfit for the kind of bride who buys Viktor & Rolf's commercial collection not for its camp humor, but for its sharp tailoring. It made you wish they'd put more of the latter on the runway today.
