Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren have returned to ready-to-wear with a unique proposition: “It’s an exercise in how to take couture ideas and use them to make a wearable proposition for a woman,” the former said. “So you have something that’s recognizable, but also something that’s hopefully new or surprising or different, but still wearable.”
For their ready-to-wear debut for fall, the Dutch duo deflated the volumes of their fall 2024 Cubist couture collection to wonderful, dramatic effect. The spring 2026 line up drew on the extended necklines, sleeve bows, and ruffled explosions of the spring 2025 couture as well as designs from spring and fall 1998. Some of the adaptations were quite faithful to the originals, but rendered in unexpected materials like technical gazar and denim in three shades, including butter yellow. Jean versions of the trench-referencing looks were heavy on the hanger; the same design in airier textiles sang.
“The main ingredients we take from couture are shape and pattern cutting,” Horsting said, and the drama of this season’s pants was carried over impressively. There were front-seamed jeans with a generous flare, and another pair of dungarees with a ballooning curved leg; triple waistline trousers were high-waisted. Explosive ruffles were one of the main elements of this collection: those in poplin felt more alive than the crinkled plissé looks that seemed to surround the body rather than work with it. Triple tanks and elongated collars were effective made-you-look updates to familiar wardrobe pieces.