Viktor & Rolf take a snip at Haute Couture with Paris runway collection

The Dutch design duo showed an all-black lineup of ballgowns, tiered dresses and a tuxedo jumpsuit that looked as though they had been attacked by a pair of scissors

Models present creations by designers Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren as part of their Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2024 collection show for fashion house Viktor & Rolf in Paris, France, Jan

For their spring summer couture show, Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, the Dutch design duo behind the label Viktor & Rolf, showed an all-black lineup of ballgowns, tiered dresses and a tuxedo jumpsuit that looked as though they had been attacked by a pair of scissors.

Bright spotlights switched on at the start of the show, startling the chattering audience.

The first model walked out slowly in a full-skirted dress covered with a hulking, satin coat, cinched at the waist, its upturned collar framing her face. The silhouettes that followed appeared to be the same design, but with patches snipped away, to show legs, part of an arm, or the ivory lining.

Other looks were similarly rearranged into entirely new shapes, including one gown that had ragged material trailing on each side, and another that was sliced nearly down the middle -- leaving one shoulder bare. "It's about our love for couture and as well the irreverence for it, to live in both at the same time," Horsting said backstage after the show.

Snoeren explained why they used black throughout the collection.

"We wanted to focus on silhouettes and black makes everything more abstract," he said.

The label belongs to Italian fashion group OTB.

The Paris spring/summer Haute Couture Week runs to Jan 25, and has featured some of the industry's best-known labels, including Chanel, Giorgio Armani and LVMH-owned Christian Dior, as well as designers Yuima Nakazato, Imane Ayissi, Rahul Mishra and Stephane Rolland.