Viktor & Rolf Catwalk Report S/S 2008

By Carla Bevan. Photograph by Mitchell Sams on Wednesday 3 October 2007

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Viktor & Rolf S/S08

We know quite a lot about Viktor & Rolf: that they're innovative, challenging, dangerous (not many designers attempt to string their models up on metal girders and spotlights as these two have in the past) and, also, perfectly bankable (H&M didn't ask them to design a capsule collection last year for nothing). What we didn't know is that they're secret fans of Desperate Housewives.

How else to explain the clothes that exited a woman's mouth onto their Paris Fashion Week runway? A mix of brocade, off-the-shoulder house jackets, pink embossed dressing gowns and floral print chemises, which were sent out for public consumption to the strains of The Carpenter's Close to You.

Of course, it wasn't your average housewife's wardrobe. Just for fun, Viktor & Rolf had dressed their muses as Harlequin dolls with black and white diamonds embossed on their shoes, sparkly pom-poms acting as their buttons and PVC ruffles edging their necklines.

They also used the violin as an omnipresent motif, printed onto skirts and T-shirts, its detailing embroidered onto dresses and, finally, mini toy violins used as necklaces or neckties.

Bizarre, baffling but utterly beguiling, Viktor & Rolf delivered yet another collection which won't be forgotten in a hurry.