Craft meets high tech
The works of Dutch designer worn by Lady Gaga and Bjork are as much art as clothing
Drawing inspiration from sources including art, architecture, the movement of the human body and science, Iris van Herpen creates cutting-edge fashion using a combination of traditional craftsmanship and innovative technology.
And though van Herpen’s name may not be well-known to the average fashion-loving consumer, fashion-forward singers like Lady Gaga, Bjork and Beyoncé have all worn her creations.
Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion, a new exhibition at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, features 45 pieces pulled from 15 of the Dutch artist’s collections designed between 2008 and this year.
Organized chronologically, it gives visitors insight into the evolution of the young designer’s career.
Many of the couture pieces look like costumes from a futuristic science-fiction movie, with dramatic flourishes created from unexpected materials and contrasting textures.
The pieces are displayed on custom mannequins in such a way that visitors can walk around and see them from every angle because they are as much sculpture as clothing, said High curator of decorative arts and design Sarah Schleuning.
Van Herpen, 31, said people sometimes assume she is inspired by technology, but that is not the case. Rather, she sees technology as a tool to help her achieve the physical representation of ideas in her head, she said.
“Often my inspiration doesn’t come from something visual,” she said. “Often I’m inspired by things that are invisible to us, like magnetic motion or electricity.”
Her creative process often includes collaborations with other artists, designers, architects and scientists.
Once she has an idea in her head she experiments to see whether it can best be executed by hand or using more high-tech methods, like 3-D printing.
The first 3-D printed piece she sent down a runway was from a collection called Crystallization in July 2010 and was inspired by the way limestone deposits harden.
The cream-coloured polyamide material extends out from the torso in ridged loops, and thin strips of acrylic stick out from the waist of a matching short leather skirt in a way that mimics water squirting out from a fountain.
In the same collection is a water-inspired dress.
A simple iridescent beige leather sheath with columns of ruffles and draped in metal chains is accented by a giant plastic collar that makes it look as if someone came up and threw a bucket of water on the model and that splash is frozen in time.
One of the most remarkable pieces in the exhibition, which the High recently acquired, is from van Herpen’s spring 2015 collec- tion, Magnetic Motion. It looks like a delicately carved ice sculpture.
The structures are so fine and delicate that the technicians at the company that printed it for her initially didn’t think it would be possible to create with a 3-D printer using the transparent resin she wanted. The result is a stunning short strapless dress that hinges open along one side and snaps onto the model.
As with many of the other pieces in the exhibition, it’s hard to imagine how it looks on a human body.
Luckily, a video in a side gallery showcases six of her runway shows so visitors can see the outfits on models and watch the extraordinary way they move.
Made from materials that include woven metal gauze, the metal ribs of children’s umbrellas, leather, laser-cut acrylic, foil, stones, cotton and more, the dresses scream to be touched, and the High is happy to oblige.
There are samples of six materials from outfits in the exhibition, including the ice dress and water dress, both of which are made from hard, unforgiving plastic, as well as a rubber material that feels like the skin of a Halloween mask, a fine wire mesh that is surprisingly flexible and a mat of fastened-together umbrella ribs.
The show ends May 15, when it will travel to the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Michigan (fall 2016), the Dallas Museum of Art in Texas (spring 2017), the Cincinnati Museum of Art in Ohio (fall 2017) and the Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona (spring 2018).