The fashion commentariat is proclaiming Iris Van Herpen the next Alexander McQueen. With Capriole, her Fall/Winter 2011-12 collection, it’s easy to see why. Revealed at the hyper-exclusive Paris Couture Show this summer, the 27-year-old Dutch fashion designer’s line packed the runway with so many showstoppers -- from a tube dress that looked like it was frozen in ice to a frightening minidress crawling with slithery, Medusian coils -- it could’ve knocked Anna Wintour’s sunglasses right off her helmet head. As one blogger put it: “Ladies and gentlemen, I think we just found our next fashion legend. HO. LY. SHIT.”
The fashion industry is, of course, excitable and fickle. As a wise woman once said: In fashion, you're either in or you're out (yeah, I went there). But Van Herpen is onto something fresh and of the moment, and saying she’s in and she’ll stay that way doesn’t feel like an overstatement.
Her trick is to manipulate technology to test the limits of fashion. Generally, she makes her pieces by combining rapid-prototyping and traditional sewing. For instance, she’ll cut strips of plastic, using a selective laser sintering machine, then arrange them into a garment by hand. In Capriole, she partnered with architects Isaie Bloch and MGX to research and develop five new works that fuse the old techniques with the new. You can see the results in the clothes above -- though “clothes” isn’t quite accurate here; they’re more like sculptures with models hanging off of them -- which manage to pair the theatricality of McQueen with a computer geek’s soul.
Even if you don’t give a jot about high fashion, this stuff is worth paying attention to. Digital technology is already shaping the industry, whether you’re talking about digitally printed fabric or 3-D printed shoes. It’ll only grow more prominent. In Van Herpen, we get an exciting sneak peek of where the rest of the fashion world is headed. Let’s just hope that Medusa dress stays on the runway.
COMMENTARY: BTW Alexander McQueen designed all those incredible costumes and shoes for Lady Gaga. I can see the similarities between Iris Van Herpen and Alexander McQueen. In terms of fashion, both designers have similar fashion designing philosophies: There are no boundaries, no limits to the art of fashion design. Maximum shock value. Anything and everything is possible. Every new design is a statement in how far can you test the limits of design. Iris says about her design philosophy.
“For me fashion is an expression of art that is very close related to me and to my body. I see it as my expression of identity combined with desire, moods and cultural setting.
In all my work I try to make clear that fashion is an artistic expression, showing and wearing art, and not just a functional and devoid of content or commercial tool. With my work I intend to show that fashion can certainly have an added value to the world, that it is timeless and that its consumption can be less important then its beginning. Wearing clothing can create a very exciting and imperative form of self-expression. 'Form follows function' is not a slogan with which I concur. On the contrary, I find that forms complement and change the body and thus the emotion. Movement, so essential to and in the body, is just as important in my work. By bringing form, structure and materials together in a new manner, I try to suggest and realize optimal tension and movement.”
What incredible imagination and fashion design artistry.
Check out the black chick with the black serpent dress. Love those Lady Gaga-style shoes. I can see her prouncing around in them right now. I would love to slip this shoes on Lady Gaga myself, but first I would tickle her feet her crazy. Okay, enough of that.
Courtesy of an article dated August 24, 2011 appearing in Fast Company Design
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