Fashion House Viktor & Rolf stage a tableau vivant of the Zen rock garden in Kyoto’s Ryoanji temple on the runway during their Haute Couture collection show in Paris on July 3. (Hirokazu Ohara)
Asahi Shimbun
July 06, 2013
By MAKIKO TAKAHASHI/ Senior Staff Writer
PARIS–A Zen-themed tableau vivant of the world-famous rock garden in Kyoto’s Ryoanji temple drew thunderous applause from the audience here on July 3 during the Haute Couture autumn/winter 2013 collection show.
The performance was staged by Viktor & Rolf, the Netherlands-based fashion house of Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren.
The two designers began the show sitting cross-legged, as if meditating, on a stage that reproduced the garden faithfully, down to details like the wavy raked patterns on the white sand. Models clad in stone-colored silk dresses later joined them one after another and quietly took different positions to mimic the garden rocks.
The designers said they felt a need to express a feeling of serenity and nothingness, for which the simplicity of the rock garden in the Japanese Zen temple was a perfect match.
By MAKIKO TAKAHASHI/ Senior Staff Writer
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