Brands we love, Fashion

Viktor & Rolf History and Timeline: 1993 to 2026, Year by Year

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Brands we love, Fashion

Viktor & Rolf History and Timeline: 1993 to 2026, Year by Year

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Viktor & Rolf has a thirty-three-year history that runs through art galleries, a Paris couture calendar, a perfume that outsold the clothes, a high-street collaboration, a decade away from ready-to-wear and a return to it. This page sets it out year by year, from the founders’ births in 1969 to OTB Group’s full acquisition in June 2026, drawing on the house’s own published timeline, Wikipedia and the OTB announcement. It is written to be cited: every date below is checked against at least one of those sources, and where they differ (the house says three Hyères prizes, Wikipedia says the Grand Prix) both are given.

Key facts

  • Founders: Viktor Horsting (born 1969, Geldrop) and Rolf Snoeren (born 1969, Dongen), Dutch, trained at Arnhem, based in Amsterdam.
  • Founded: 1993, after the Hyères festival prizes.
  • First couture: Spring/Summer 1998. First ready-to-wear: Autumn/Winter 2000. Return to couture: Autumn/Winter 2013. Return to ready-to-wear: Fall/Winter 2025.
  • Ownership: OTB Group 51% (2008), 70% (2019), 100% (4 June 2026).
  • Fragrance: L’Oréal partnership since 2002; Flowerbomb 2005, Spicebomb 2012, Bonbon 2014.
  • Major exhibitions: Paris 2003, Barbican 2008, Melbourne 2017, Rotterdam 2018, Shenzhen 2022, Munich 2024.

Timeline

Year Event
1969 Viktor Horsting is born in Geldrop and Rolf Snoeren in Dongen, both in the Netherlands.
1988 The two meet as students at the Arnhem Academy of Art and Design (now ArtEZ).
1992 Both graduate and begin working together, relocating to Paris.
1993 They win the top prizes at the Hyères festival in France. The house dates its founding to this year.
1994 First installation, L’Hiver de l’Amour, at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; the Groninger Museum begins acquiring their work.
1995 L’Apparence du Vide: a show without models at the Galerie Patricia Dorfmann in Paris, with gold garment sculptures suspended from the ceiling over black silk organza laid like shadows.
1996 Viktor&Rolf on Strike: a single image pasted across Paris declaring the designers on strike, in protest at the industry’s indifference. Launch exhibition at Torch Gallery, Amsterdam, including a fictional perfume, Le Parfum.
1998 First haute couture collection, Spring/Summer 1998, shown at the Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris with models on plinths; Atomic Bomb follows for Autumn/Winter 1998.
1999 Russian Doll, Autumn/Winter 1999: one model dressed in layer after layer of couture.
2000 First ready-to-wear collection, Stars & Stripes, Autumn/Winter 2000. The wax-seal V&R logo is introduced.
2002 April: a beauty partnership with L’Oréal is signed, bringing the house into fragrance.
2003 Menswear line Monsieur launches (it runs to 2009); eyewear launches; One Woman Show, Autumn/Winter 2003, styles every model as Tilda Swinton; tenth-anniversary retrospective at the Musée de la Mode et du Textile, Paris.
2004 Guest curators of Fashion in Colors for the Kyoto Costume Institute; the Flowerbomb collection is shown for Spring/Summer 2005.
2005 Flowerbomb Eau de Parfum launches with L’Oréal and becomes one of the best-selling designer fragrances in the world.
2006 Viktor&Rolf for H&M, one of the earliest and most influential designer collaborations with a high-street chain.
2008 The House of Viktor&Rolf, a fifteenth-anniversary exhibition at the Barbican, London, with a six-metre dollhouse of 54 miniature looks; NO, Autumn/Winter 2008, writes the word across coats and jackets; the OTB Group buys a 51% stake.
2012 Spicebomb Eau de Toilette launches.
2013 Return to haute couture after a multi-year pause with Zen Garden, Autumn/Winter 2013.
2014 Bonbon couture (Spring/Summer 2014) in latex; Red Carpet Dressing (Autumn/Winter 2014) with gowns made from red carpet; the Bonbon fragrance launches.
2015 Van Gogh Girls (Spring/Summer 2015) and Wearable Art (Autumn/Winter 2015), gowns built as framed paintings; the house halts ready-to-wear production to concentrate on couture and fragrance.
2016 Vagabonds, Autumn/Winter 2016: couture made entirely from the atelier’s discarded fabric.
2017 Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Spring/Summer 2017), recycled patchwork couture finished with gilded seams; the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne stages the house’s first Australian exhibition for its twenty-fifth anniversary.
2018 Viktor&Rolf Fashion Artists 25 Years at the Kunsthal, Rotterdam, curated by Thierry-Maxime Loriot; the Cover Cover book designed by Irma Boom is published by Phaidon.
2019 Fashion Statements, Spring/Summer 2019 couture: sculptural tulle gowns carrying slogans, which travel worldwide online; OTB raises its stake to 70%.
2022 MetaFashion, the first Asian retrospective, at Design Society in Shenzhen, with more than 80 couture pieces.
2023 Late Stage Capitalism Waltz, Spring/Summer 2023 couture: ball gowns worn sideways and upside down.
2024 Fashion Statements retrospective at the Kunsthalle München with more than 100 pieces.
2025 March: the house returns to ready-to-wear for Fall/Winter 2025 after a ten-year pause, with balloon trousers, multi-layered tanks, organic cotton denim and Mackintosh raincoats, photographed in Paris by Alessandro Furchino Capria.
2026 4 June: the OTB Group acquires the remaining shares and becomes sole owner after eighteen years; Horsting and Snoeren are confirmed as creative directors for a further five years. Spring/Summer 2026 and Fall/Winter 2026 ready-to-wear reach Luxury Shoes .

The four periods

The art years, 1993 to 1999. Two graduates with no industry backing show installations rather than collections, win Hyères, are collected by museums before they are stocked by stores, go “on strike”, and finally show couture in a gallery. Everything the house does later is set here: the idea first, the garment second.

The building years, 2000 to 2012. Ready-to-wear from 2000, the wax-seal logo, L’Oréal in 2002, menswear and eyewear in 2003, Flowerbomb in 2005, H&M in 2006, the Barbican and OTB in 2008. The house becomes a business, and the perfume becomes bigger than the clothes.

The couture years, 2013 to 2024. Zen Garden brings the house back to the couture calendar; the collections that follow (latex Bonbon, Red Carpet Dressing, Van Gogh Girls, Wearable Art, Vagabonds, the 2019 slogan gowns, the 2023 upside-down waltz) are the ones the house is now famous for, and in 2015 ready-to-wear stops so the atelier can concentrate on them.

The return, 2025 onwards. Ready-to-wear comes back for Fall/Winter 2025 as a wardrobe built from couture ideas, with Mackintosh outerwear; OTB takes full ownership in June 2026 and confirms the founders for five more years. The 191 pieces at Luxury Handbags are this period. See couture vs ready-to-wear for how the lines relate and who is Viktor and Rolf for the founders.

The famous dresses, and where they came from

The bed dress is from Bedtime Story, Autumn/Winter 2005, a gown built from a pillow and a duvet. The upside-down dresses are from Late Stage Capitalism Waltz, Spring/Summer 2023 couture. The slogan tulle gowns (“I’m not shy, I just don’t like you”, “NO”, “Sorry I’m late I didn’t want to come”) are from Fashion Statements, Spring/Summer 2019 couture. The NO coats are from Autumn/Winter 2008. The painting dresses are from Wearable Art, Autumn/Winter 2015. The Russian doll is from Autumn/Winter 1999. The H&M trench coat is from November 2006. None of these is for sale; the ready-to-wear translations of their ideas, the volants, bows and tulle ruffles, are at Luxury Handbags and explained in the glossary. Shop the full Viktor & Rolf collection at Luxury Shoes .

Frequently asked questions

When was Viktor & Rolf founded?

In 1993, the year Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren won the top prizes at the Hyères festival in France, a year after graduating from the Arnhem Academy of Art and Design and moving to Paris.

When did Viktor & Rolf first show couture?

For Spring/Summer 1998, at the Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris rather than on a runway, with models posed on plinths. The house returned to couture after a pause with Zen Garden for Autumn/Winter 2013.

When did Viktor & Rolf stop and restart ready-to-wear?

Ready-to-wear ran from Autumn/Winter 2000 (Stars & Stripes) until 2015, when the house stopped it to concentrate on couture and fragrance. It returned for Fall/Winter 2025, announced in March 2025.

When did OTB buy Viktor & Rolf?

In stages: a 51% majority stake in 2008, an increase to 70% in 2019, and the remaining shares on 4 June 2026, when OTB became sole owner.

When did Flowerbomb come out?

The Flowerbomb collection was shown for Spring/Summer 2005 and the Eau de Parfum launched in 2005 under the L’Oréal partnership signed in April 2002. Spicebomb followed in 2012 and Bonbon in 2014.

What was the Viktor & Rolf H&M collaboration?

A limited-edition collection sold at H&M in November 2006, one of the earliest designer and high-street collaborations, remembered for its trench coat and its wedding dress.

Which museums have shown Viktor & Rolf?

The Musée de la Mode et du Textile in Paris (2003), the Barbican in London (2008), the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne (2017), the Kunsthal in Rotterdam (2018), Design Society in Shenzhen (2022) and the Kunsthalle München (2024), with pieces also held and shown by the Met, the V&A, the Kyoto Costume Institute and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

Read next

who is Viktor and Rolf? | couture vs ready-to-wear | the glossary | is Viktor and Rolf a luxury brand? | the Spring/Summer 2026 edit

All the Viktor & Rolf guides at Luxury Shoes

Who is Viktor and Rolf | How to wear Viktor and Rolf | Brands like Viktor and Rolf | Spring/Summer 2026 edit | Is Viktor and Rolf a luxury brand | Where to buy | Price guide | Size guide | Sale and outlet guide | Couture vs ready-to-wear | Real vs fake | Wedding dresses | Viktor and Rolf vs Schiaparelli | Viktor and Rolf vs Alexander McQueen | Fall/Winter 2026 edit | Dresses | Gowns | Mini dresses | Shirt dresses | Tops | Shirts | Jeans and denim | Trousers | Skirts | Jackets and coats | Bows | Tulle and organza | Multi-layered | Lace | Black edit | White and ivory edit | Wedding guest outfits | Glossary | Materials and care. Shop the full Viktor & Rolf collection at Luxury Shoes .

Sources and method

Checked on 17 September 2026. Facts about the house come from the sources below; prices, counts and stock come from the live Luxury Handbags catalogue on that date and change with the season.

Gemma Deeks is Fashion Editor at Luxury Shoes . Prices, stock and counts on this page were checked against coveti.com and viktor-rolf.com on 17 September 2026.

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About Gemma Deeks

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