3D-printed polyamide bodice and skin skirt adorned with acrylic fringes © Les Arts Décoratifs / photo: Jean Tholance
Iris van Herpen private collection © All rights reserved
Iris van Herpen is considered a pioneer of fashion design. With her extravagant designs, she goes far beyond conventional clothing norms, relying on both traditional couture craftsmanship and innovative techniques. From 29 November to 28 April 2024, the exhibition „Iris van Herpen. Sculpting the Senses“ exhibition at the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris is now celebrating one of the pioneering fashion designers in an extensive retrospective. The show scrutinises the place of the body in space, its relationship to clothing and its surroundings – as well as its future in a rapidly changing world.
Born in 1984, Iris van Herpen grew up in the Dutch village of Wamel. Classical ballet shaped her relationship with the body and clothing from an early age. After a formative period with Alexander McQueen and Claudy Jongstra, she founded the “Maison Iris van Herpen” in Amsterdam in 2007, where, as they say, she “combines the subtleties of craftsmanship with the pioneering spirit of innovation and opens up her practice to a variety of other disciplines”. In 2010, the designer presented her first 3D-printed dress from the “Crystallisation Collection”. Iris van Herpen sees fashion as an ever-changing language that emerges from a cross-over of fields as diverse as art, chemistry, dance, physics, architecture, biology, design and technology. By collaborating with creatives and thinkers from different backgrounds, she is constantly challenging conventional notions of haute couture. Aware of current problems, she has favoured environmentally friendly production methods for several years, using recycled plastic or vegan 3D printing from cocoa beans for her creations.
The Paris exhibition is divided into nine thematic areas. In different perspectives, a selection of more than 100 haute couture pieces by Iris van Herpen enter into dialogue with contemporary artworks by artists such as Collectif Mé, Wim Delvoye, Kate MccGwire, Damien Jalet, Kohei Nawa, Casey Curran, Rogan Borwn, Jacques Rougerie and design pieces by Neri Oxman, Ren Ri, Ferruccio Laviani and Tomáš Libertíny. There are also objects from the natural sciences, such as skeletons and fossils, which are intended to resonate with van Herpen’s creations. The exhibition presented in the “Christine & Stephen A. Schwarzman Galleries” is curated by Cloé Pitiot and Louise Curtis; Studio Nathalie Crinière has been entrusted with the scenography. The presentation is accompanied by a sound composition by Salvador Breed, which, according to the museum, challenges the senses and allows visitors to immerse themselves even more deeply in this journey around the body and the themes that are close to the designer’s heart. Finally, visitors can immerse themselves in the designer’s studio process with hundreds of material samples.
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