Tell us what you really think – we find out what makes these cult figures tick

Dutch design duo Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren returned to the couture schedule in Paris last week to celebrate their label’s twentieth anniversary, after 13 years of concentrating solely on their ready-to-wear collections. They walked onto the set, meditated and then arranged models, who entered one by one dressed in black garments, into a symbolic formation in which some were hidden clothing that adjusted and unfurled into new shapes.

As part of the celebration of their couture comeback, Horsting and Snoeren released a limited edition of their best-selling fragrance Flowerbomb, with packaging, inspired by the collection, that was available only to the guests who attended. We met them after the show.

Why have you come back to couture?
Because we love it, because it’s  a laboratory for experimentation, which is something close to our hearts. At the same time, we also would like to separate the wearable aspect of our work from the artistic, conceptual aspect of our work.

And what is the concept at the heart of the collection?
Well, it’s a celebration of our twentieth anniversary and we’re in a state of mindfulness. Enjoying the present instead of always running towards the future, you know.

That explains the meditation in the show…
Exactly. We wanted to visualise that feeling by creating this collection: twenty outfits combined to become one new piece. And the shape fo the piece that they make is supposed to representation a zen garden, a symbol of serenity and of mindfulness. We felt that was very appropriate.

The clothes looked almost like neoprene – what were they made from?
It’s a technical silk, and we did it in various ways, to influence the way it falls. Sometimes it’s more stiff, sometimes more fluid, and the surfaces have been made to look like stones and grass.

What sort of message did you want the show to give out?
The most important for us was to do something new after 20 years. It was an experiment.