Sculpting the Senses
With unapologetic sinuosity and a medley of iridescent shapes, Dutch fashion designer Iris Van Herpen has redefined the concept of fashion as wearable art by seamlessly blending highly sophisticated 3D printing technology with an impeccably refined ability to develop seemingly impossible shapes in not-so-traditional haute couture.
Shortly after graduating from fashion design school, Van Herpen flew to London for a thrilling internship at Alexander McQueen, where she mastered her already pristine craftsmanship. This experience led to the establishment of her own label in 2007 and her debut collection, Chemical Crows, presented that same year at Amsterdam’s Fashion Week. Inspired by music, nature, and technology, she has revolutionized the fashion world and continues to do so by presenting fresh, otherworldly garments that could easily have emerged from Gaga’s chaotically creative mind, with a dash of alien royalty.
Cosmica minidress, “Shift Souls” collection, 2019 – Silk organza, cotton. Iris Van Herpen Collection. Shot by Dominique Maitre
This year, she presented her striking new collection at Paris Haute Couture Week, along with a never-seen-before series of aerial sculptures, marking a substantial twist in her brand.
“For a long time I’ve been working on expanding people’s perception of how fashion and art can be symbiotic. This is the natural next step for me to really show what I mean,” states Van Herpen as she’s being interviewed by the French press at the event.
This underscores how the designer launched her label with a clear vision in mind and has stayed true to it since the very beginning, conceding nothing to the ever-so-demanding fashion industry.
“Even though we call one practice ‘Haute Couture’ and the other ‘art’, to me, it’s one universe,” she then added, reiterating that her creations cannot be dissected and must be received solely as a masterly whole.
Van Herpen’s uncompromising creative genius is recognized on a global scale by critics, fans, institutions, and even those who may not appreciate her work, though little has been heard from her haters, likely due to a fear of being proven (rightfully) wrong. It is no coincidence that her genius has been recognized to the point of granting the designer a solo show to exhibit her garments at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, making Van Herpen the youngest woman ever to achieve this in the 140 years the museum has been standing in the city of love.
Sculpting the Senses by Iris Van Herpen, shot by Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images
Sculpting the Senses, five years in the making, was conceived as an immersive otherworldly journey in nine stages, featuring more than one hundred garments scattered throughout the museum’s chambers. The message? The interdisciplinary nature and reconciliation of art, nature, science, chemistry, sculpting, and dance in one final effort. The nine-stage exhibition, accompanied by sound installations, begins with the theme of water—the origin of life—and tantalizes visitors to delve deep into the designer’s aquatic world.
It then evolves through earth, body, ecosystems, and mythology, culminating in what she describes as a “cosmic bloom.”
“Is that dress made of bones? Are those air bubbles? Why does it look like she used alien skin to make that top?” These are the typical questions often overheard in the halls, as visitors find themselves comfortably dazed, frozen in a surreal moment in space and time. This is what Iris strives for—what her work is all about.
“Sometimes people perceive fashion as a bubble, which it is, in a way, but I think fashion has such a big connection with other layers of life; with psychology, philosophy, science, society. The more you open yourself to it, the more you can discover within it.”
If there is something to say about Iris Van Herpen, it might very well be that her forward-thinking, hungry mind has been a true blessing for both the fashion and art worlds.
No one, to this day, has even come close to conceiving anything as meticulously complex, artistically elegant, and technologically ingenious as what she has created. If only three words could capture the appreciation for what we are able to experience today, they would be the following: thank you, Iris.
