Iris Van Herpen is a talented visionary and widely known Dutch fashion designer. Her fashion theme is a fusion of traditional couture along with technology.
Lets check out the journey of Iris Van Herpen and what inspired her to combine technology, design, and fashion.
Iris Van Herpen photo by Wired
Start of her career
Iris was born in 1984 in Holland. She studied fashion designing at Dutch Art Academy ArtEZ. Her internship was with a famous English fashion designer, Alexander McQueen.
photo via Elle Magazine
Iris Van Herpen hailed by DesignWorld! as the next Alexander McQueen
During her starting years as a fashion designer, Iris mainly focused on handwork and craftsmanship. She didn’t even use a sewing machine.
Inspiration for her unique theme
Although her work gives more of a futuristic vibe, Iris likes to call her work organic, innovative and collaborative.
She used to hand-stitch her garments, which gave her a lot of time to reflect on her ideas as time surprisingly becomes slow when you are stitching by hand.
She wanted to have no limit and needed freedom to do anything according to her vision. Thus, from hand stitching garments, she went to work with engineers and scientists, working and creating 3D prints combined with traditional couture and unique geometrical designs with the help of advanced technology.
During an interview with Vogue, she said that feminity has also played a massive part in her theme. She has started to forget everything she had learned about fashion and now follows her intuition with freedom.
The Synesthesia Dress
According to Iris, the Synesthesia dress is one of the most amazing dresses she made in 2010. This dress was the start of her best friendship with Bjork, an Icelandic singer.
Bjork in Synesthesia Dress
She wore the dress for her album, “biophilic.” The concept of the synesthesia dress was to interpret the fragility of the human body. Synesthesia is a neurological disease that causes disrupted sensory perceptions in a human being.
The unique thing about this dress is that it is made with extreme craftsmanship. This dress is suitable for synesthesia patients as Iris had tried to embed extra receptors or vibrating instruments to strengthen the sensory perception.
The Skeleton Dress
The skeleton dress is part of the Capriole collection and is one of the most loved dresses by the fashion designer. It is a 3D-printed, two-piece garment which resembles the intricacy of human capillaries.
Karen Elson in Skeleton Dress
This dress is made of powdered nylon sintered by a technique known as selective laser sintering (SLS). Unfortunately, the lifespan of this beautiful dress is relatively short. That is, the SLS used for making this dress also damaged it. Initially, the SLS is used for the invention of objects for short-term use. It might not have been a problem if the people did not place the skeleton dress in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Although it is still not known how to preserve an SLS material, it seems that the dress is covered in nylon powder from time to time to maintain it.
Hailee Steinfeld wearing Iris Van Herpen at 2021 Met Gala I Image Source: Getty / Dimitrios Kambouris
Vision for the future
Iris does not want to keep couture traditional or historical. She wants to include innovation and progress in fashion like other fields. Her dream is to explore fashion to its very maximum capability.
‘Skydive’ Iris Van Herpen Earthrise Collection
As the human race progresses day by day, she thinks that fashion plays an essential role in identifying people with creative ideas.
