At Paris Couture Week, Viktor & Rolf delivered a triumphant return to their signature surrealism with the Fall/Winter 2025–2026 Haute Couture collection—a visual reverie rooted in one of the oldest tropes of couture: the feather. But in typical Viktor & Rolf fashion, the house didn’t merely adorn; they deconstructed, reassembled, and reshaped the very notion of embellishment.

The muse was deceptively simple—a feather. From that spark, the duo crafted a deeply conceptual collection, anchored by approximately 11,500 hand-sculpted “feathers,” all rendered in non-organic materials. These ethereal flourishes, meticulously cut from whisper-light fabrics and manipulated into feather-like forms, cascaded from shoulders, trailed across hems, and bloomed like exotic flora from unexpected seams. Accentuating this dramatic play were elaborate headpieces by Stephen Jones, fashioned from tulle and vibrant polymers—a fusion of fantasy and fabrication.

The presentation was grounded in duality. Each look appeared in duplicate—once in full, plush grandeur with padded volumes and feather explosions; and again, stripped to its essential form, unembellished and monochromatic. This echoing design concept, first hinted at by the brand in 1998, acted as a couture mirror: one outfit inflated with baroque theatricality, its twin pared down to a haunting silhouette in noir. It was both fashion and anti-fashion—opulence in conversation with absence.

Sculptural silhouettes became playgrounds of contrast. Satins and sequins caught light in padded forms, while their flat counterparts revealed raw elegance in drape and proportion. An opera coat transformed into an architectural marvel when stuffed, and then receded into a ghostlike, oversized sheath when deflated. The effect was transformative, a high-concept performance in textile alchemy.

The collection’s enigmatic title, Angry Birds, left space for interpretation. Was it a cheeky nod to digital pop culture, or a more pointed reflection of a restless global mood? Either way, the show moved beyond superficial spectacle. It questioned perception, aesthetic judgment, and the very structure of couture. Gothic, playful, surreal, or solemn—each viewer found their own truth in the twin flames of fantasy and form.

In the end, Viktor & Rolf’s latest outing didn’t simply present fashion—it posed a question: What remains when the embellishment is stripped away? Their answer? The essence of design itself—honest, bold, and unapologetically visionary.