keeps me awestruck
Fashion can serve so many functions: it can reveal you as a member of a tribe – Goth, Emo or Skater for example. Or show your social class (or aspirations) by the logos that serve to say “this was expensive or a really good fake”. Or be simply utilitarian – the classic denim jean. …or it can be something else altogether. And that’s where the designs of Iris van Herpen fall. To me, they are pure magic. And with each season they seem to be getting closer to wearable while still grounded in the conceptual. Every review I’ve read has said that the stills don’t fully capture these pieces – that movement is required to fully “see” them. But to me, even as still images I can see their beauty and sense their movement.
The notion of couture feels very archaic at this moment while the way Iris van Herpen produces work feels so modern. I think the future of fashion – of everything – is direct to consumer and made to order and in this way this fits in perfectly.
By working with architects, artists, biologists, engineers and scientists, I can create an unknown space for myself to expand my knowledge and feed my inspiration. Collaborations are core to my daily explorations and ideas. Each collaboration is human, meaning that they all are very different. -Iris Van Herpen
Iris Van Herpen – Couture 2019
Iris van Herpen is a Dutch fashion designer who is widely recognized as one of fashion’s most talented and forward-thinking creators who continuously pushes the boundaries of fashion design. Since her first show in 2007 van Herpen has been preoccupied with inventing new forms and methods of sartorial expression by combining the most traditional and the most radical materials and garment construction methods into her unique aesthetic vision.
Van Herpen is often hailed as a pioneer in utilizing 3D printing as a garment construction technique, and as an innovator who is comfortable with using technology as one of the guiding principles in her work because of its sculptural nature and unfamiliar form. The designer’s intent is to blend the past and the future into a distinct version of the present by fusing technology and traditional Couture craftsmanship. -taken from Wikipedia
