Viktor&Rolf hands its spring-summer 2028 collection to Marangoni Paris students
Asking students to design a collection is one thing. Asking them to reinvent the very format of the runway show is another. Yet that is precisely the challenge Viktor&Rolf is setting for Istituto Marangoni Paris for the 2026-2027 academic year.
A brief that goes far beyond the clothes
The partnership, announced in July 2026, puts fashion design students in front of a real-world commission: developing the house’s women’s ready-to-wear collection for spring-summer 2028. Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren are personally overseeing the project, which gives the exercise an unusual weight for an academic setting.
The brief handed to students covers several dimensions. They must define a creative direction, design three prototype key looks, and produce both a digital and a printed lookbook. But the most demanding line in the brief concerns the presentation: they are asked to conceive a Paris Fashion Week concept that goes beyond the traditional runway show. What is at stake, then, is not just the collection itself, it is the way it is shown.
This question has been running through Fashion Week for several seasons now. When most of the audience discovers looks after the fact on a screen, the relevance of the catwalk as the sole format is worth questioning. By handing this problem to a class rather than to its own studio, Viktor&Rolf treats it as a genuine design challenge.
A structured timeline built around direct access to the founders
The project kicks off in November 2026 with an in-person masterclass on the Paris campus, led by Horsting and Snoeren themselves. The two founders will present the house’s creative philosophy and hand over the brief to students. This starting point is significant: it is rare for a pedagogical project to have the house’s own leaders step in right from the opening.
Two online mentoring sessions with the Viktor&Rolf design team will follow throughout the year. The project concludes with a final presentation in Paris before representatives of the house, who will evaluate the students’ proposals in autumn 2027.
Valérie Berdah-Levy, Director of Operations at Istituto Marangoni France, describes the project as a “meaningful dialogue between education and creative practice”, giving students the opportunity to work directly with the house’s vision while exploring the future of ready-to-wear.
What selected students actually gain
Beyond the collective project, several levels of recognition are in place for participants. Here is what the partnership concretely offers:
- An in-person masterclass with Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren on the Paris campus
- Two online mentoring sessions with the house’s design team
- Privileged access to Viktor&Rolf’s upcoming Haute Couture exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
- For two to three selected students: a dresser role backstage at the spring-summer 2027 ready-to-wear showroom in Paris, in October
- For the project winner: an internship within the house’s RTW Bridal Design department in Amsterdam
The October showroom participation deserves particular attention. The students selected will get a behind-the-scenes look at the very system they are being asked to question, before they have even presented their own proposals. This sequence gives the entire programme a concrete, coherent logic.
Viktor&Rolf reserves the right to choose
The structure is deliberately asymmetrical. Students commit to a full year, produce real prototypes, and defend a presentation concept in front of the house. For its part, Viktor&Rolf retains the freedom to select, in autumn 2027, only the response that suits it.
This framework is not a limitation of the project, it is its very logic. The house poses an open question about the future of the runway show and awaits design answers, without committing to adopting any one of them. For the students, the challenge is therefore twofold: to convince on creative merit, and to propose a presentation format compelling enough for a house like Viktor&Rolf to consider using it at a real Fashion Week.
