A New Beauty
'MICRO'
Spring/Summer 2012
(Haute Couture)
"I feel that I'm part of a new kind of haute couture. My designs fall into two categories. On the one hand, handmade pieces that are produced in much the same way as haute couture used to be made. On the other hand, my 3D pieces, which I design on a computer but then send off to a company that prints the designs in 3D. It's a very complicated process that takes days on end. People think oh, just push the button, but that's not how it works. Sometimes, I sit an entire day next to the printer and see the piece coming out of it, millimeter by millimeter. So, maybe you could say that I use couture techniques, but mostly modern ones."
- Iris Van Herpen
(Quote from 'Iris Van Herpen - 3D Couture', by Veerle Windels, in StyleZeitgeist Magazine: Volume 1)
Fashion week - a time of too many shows, too many designers soon to be forgotten, too many people screaming to be seen, and not enough substance. So today I thought I would go back to a collection from a designer whose work quite literally stops me in my tracks with its beauty. This is the type of work that really gets me excited.
For her Spring/Summer 2012 collection, for which she was again invited to show during couture week by Didier Grumbach, chairman of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, Van Herpen presented a collection entitled 'Micro'. The starting point for the collection was the work of Steve Gschmeissner, a science photographer who makes images using a scanning electron microscope, providing an incredible insight into the world of microorganisms. Taken by the idea of life, that we are for the most parts entirely unaware of, on our very own skin, she created these beautifully sculptural pieces referencing imagery of cell structures, plasma, scales, ciliate organisms, and more. The collection was created in collaborated with the milliner Stephen Jones, artist Bart Hess, architect Isaie Bloch, 3D printing company Materialise, and shoe company United Nude. Fashion meets technology meets art. And boy does it look good.
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