Iris van Herpen is a Dutch fashion designer who started her label in 2007 and has been showing couture collections coming out of her Amsterdam atelier since 2011. She completely embraces new materials and cutting edge technologies like 3D printing yet her work is still heavily dependent on couture handiwork. Although she says she was slow to embrace the use of computers when she was in school now she is known for creating a symbiotic relationship between the two different worlds.
What drew me to her work were beautiful fluid and organic shapes she creates that when on the body are simply mesmerizing. Some say that her work is futuristic but she disagrees and says these are things that can be made now not in the future. I think the textures and forms allude to the natural world and remind me of natural growths such as coral or fungus and when worn on the body resemble exotic sea creatures. She enjoys collaboration with artists and architects that come for disciplines different from her own. In the video of her collection titled Syntopia you can see her collaboration with the designers Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta of Drift Studio in the form of a kinetic sculpture that mimics the movement of a bird flying. I wrote about Studio Drift previously here.
Syntopia – In this collection Iris van Herpen explores the new worlds that arise within synthetic biology and the intertwining relationships between the organic and the inorganic. ʻSyntopiaʼ acknowledges the current scientific shift in which biology converges with technology and visualizes the fragility and power within. excerpted from her website
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtGq1zpTDQo]
The following photos are all from her collection Syntopia, you can see and read more here. You are looking at digitally designed weaving, laser cut wool, laser cut and heat bonded silk, laser cut mylar and transparent black acrylic sheets. Inspiration runs from bird’s sound wave patterns to bird flight and the layering of bird’s feathers. These themes are broken down and slowed down to give the effect of time lapse motion.
If you want to see how some of these garments are made watch the 2 videos below. The second video is about her collection Ludi Naturae and you can also see Peter Gentenaar hanging his beautiful paper sculptures that I wrote about here.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiE3yVULRBY]
[vimeo 256460007 w=640 h=360]