Iris Van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses

 

"For me fashion is an expression of art that is very closely related both to me and to my body. I see it as an expression of identity combined with desire, moods and a cultural setting." - Iris van Herpen

I finally managed to get a first look at an Iris Van Herpen dress at close quarters at the Louvre Museum's - Louvre Couture. Art & Fashion: Statement Pieces exhibition. I was intrigued by her process and unique futuristic-looking take on fashion which includes collaborating with artists and adopting new technologies to stunning effect I was unable to get to her show when it opened at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in 2023, and thought I'd never get to see it as it subsequently travelled to Singapore. On hearing that Iris Van Herpen Sculpting the Senses would be not only returning to Europe, but the designers home country of the Netherlands, I seized the opportunity and made a visit to Rotterdam's Kunsthal to immerse myself in Van Herpen's visionary world. The exhibition is a retrospective of Van Herpen's couture designs to date, and features more than one hundred haute couture pieces and accessories like shoes and iconic headpieces worn by the likes of singer Björk. An important aspect of Van Herpen's process is the collaborative process with other artists and designers who feed her imagination. There are original artworks by artists who have collaborated in the creation her designs such as Rogan Brown and Wim Delvoye, and other sources of inspiration such as ancient corals, fossils and biological specimens which have also fuelled Van Herpen's imagination. As interesting as seeing the finished dresses is a section containing original sketches depicting her dress designs and fabric swatch samples illustrating her sudio's process documenting the development of the designs. Van Herpen practiced classical and contemporary dance from an early age and so is aware of the body, movement and its relationship to clothing. This background may also explain the theatricality of much of her oeuvre. Van Herpen spent time learning her craft in Alexander McQueen's studios before starting her own Maison in Amsterdam in 2007. Van Herpen broke new ground when in 2010 she presented her first £D printed dress in her Crystallization collection. Water in its various states, and its importance in the role of the origins of life on planet Earth appears to have been a theme that has fascinated Van Herpen throughout her career. Indeed the opening rooms of the exhibition presents an aquatic tableau of water-themed dresses seemingly immersed in an underwater projection. The exhibition has nine rooms all with specific themes and titles. The first of which is titled Water and Dreams and features dresses inspired by water in its liquid, solid or gaseous forms. There is are dresses formed of bubbles, another inspired by the motion of a splash of water caught mid-motion, and another whose vivid blue folds appear like the roll and swell of an ocean. Life From The Deep, is the next room's theme continuing the fascination with water but looking at microscopic life forms that inhabit the deep, as well as the artwork of zoologist Ernst Haeckel and the glass artworks of 19th century artists Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka. The ways in which Van Herpen's dresses evoked the spirit of the sea or animal life forms associated with the deep was stunning. The Forces of Life is the next room of the exhibition where Van Herpen plays with elemental forms from nature inspired by the exquisite feathery papercuts of artist Rogan Brown. The next room - Alchemical Workshop affords visitors to the exhibition the opportunity to examine fabric samples, sketches, small mannequins and the technological techniques used in Van Herpen's craft. It is like being immersed in the design process in the designers atelier. The Embodied Skeleton is the theme of the dramatically darkened next exhibition space, the better to view the mostly white and cream skeletal form dresses on display taking their cue from the bodies skeletal, mucle tissues and fascia structures. Van Herpen makes excellent use of 3D printing technology and innovative materials to create these wonderfully sculptural creations. The Dynamics of Structures is the next room's theme and looks at how the designer combines elements of physical architecture with the architecture of the body. This was another room that contained some of my favourite Van Herpen creations including The Cathedral dress which resembles a gorgeous piece of Gothic architecture like one of the many ancient churches found in her home country. The next section of the exhibition is entitled Dark Mythology and focuses on the amazing, futuristic accessories such as footwear, eye and headpieces created by Van Herpen in collaboration with other creatives. It presented in a darkened space with the pieces displayed on shelves like a cabinet of curiosities. New Nature is the theme of the penultimate room of the exhibition and here Van Herpen presents her vision of the future through striking silhouettes that attempt to blur the distinctions between artice and the natural. Intrigued by the possibilities of future worlds Van Herpen embraces technology to try to change the body into hybrid being with some typically startling results. The final room entitled Cosmic Journey is a real tour de force. It is inspired by science, space exploration and theories of the cosmos. It contains a tableau of mannequins sporting her designs floating in space and time with others suspended upside down from the ceiling and shooting sideways out of columns in much the same way as Antony Gormley's Matrix III sculptural installation in which his figures project from the gallery walls and ceiling. Colours and textures clash against a sculptural glass backdrop composed of circles which refract light, shadow and colour adding to the sense of chaos and being contained within a multiverse or different dimension. The exhibition was an amazing introduction to the whole of Van Herpen's ouevre to date and a fantastic opportunity to the details, techiques and processes of the designers vision of couture.

 

Iris Van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses
until 1st March 2026
Kunsthal
Museumpark
Westzeedijk 341
3015 AA 

Rotterdam