COUTURE AS ART

The Extraordinary World of Iris van Herpen

+ the Art of Dressing Around a Masterpiece

There are designers who make beautiful clothes, and then there are designers whose work makes you stop and wonder what, exactly, you are looking at.

Did someone sew this?

Sculpt it?

Grow it?

Did it emerge from the sea?

Is it moving?

Welcome to the extraordinary world of Iris van Herpen.

The Dutch couturier works somewhere in the delicious territory where fashion meets sculpture, nature, architecture, science, dance, and technology. Trained in classical ballet before studying fashion, van Herpen has an unusually physical relationship with clothing.

She thinks about the body in motion and even the space surrounding it. Her gowns can appear to extend beyond the wearer, transforming movement itself into part of the design.

It is one reason her work can feel strangely alive.

A dress may resemble water frozen in motion, the translucent architecture of a sea creature, feathers caught in a current, a nervous system, coral, bone, smoke, or some microscopic organism you have somehow encountered while being extremely glamorous.

Van Herpen founded her maison in two thousand seven after studying at ArtEZ and interning with Alexander McQueen and Claudy Jongstra. Her creative vocabulary quickly became unmistakable. Traditional couture craftsmanship lives alongside techniques more commonly associated with laboratories and engineering studios: laser cutting, three-D printing, injection molding, magnetic techniques, and ultrasonic welding. A bespoke couture gown can require roughly seven hundred to fifteen hundred hours of work.

And the inspirations are equally extraordinary.

Water. Neurons. Microorganisms. Sound waves. Magnetism. Anatomy. Architecture. Biomimicry. Movement.

Her Micro collection, for instance, explored the largely invisible world of microorganisms, resulting in sculptural forms suggesting cells, scales, tentacles, and ciliate organisms. Her Crystallization work introduced a three-D-printed garment inspired by shell structures.

Yet the fascinating thing is that the subject can change while the artistic hand remains recognizable.

That is the mark of a strong visual language.

Remove the label from an extraordinary sculptural gown that appears simultaneously grown, engineered, and conjured, and Iris van Herpen should be one of the names that comes to mind.

Her clientele and muses have included Cate Blanchett, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Björk, Lady Gaga, Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Lopez, and Gigi Hadid. These are women capable of wearing a dress with its own gravitational field.

And that brings us to the delicious question.

How does one style a work of art?

The Jewelry

With an Iris van Herpen gown, restraint in quantity and strength in choice can be exquisite.

The dress already occupies enormous visual territory. Rather than decorating every available inch of the body, consider one extraordinary piece: architectural earrings, an unusual ear cuff, a sculptural cuff, or high jewelry with an organic or surreal quality.

Boucheron could be magnificent, particularly when the jewelry explores nature and unusual forms. Cartier can introduce beautiful graphic precision. Repossi's architectural geometry can converse beautifully with van Herpen's futuristic structures.

The operative word is conversation.

If the gown resembles an exploding sea anemone, the necklace needn't announce, “Hello, I am also a sea anemone.”

A sharp diamond earpiece catching the light may be far more interesting.

The Shoes

Shoes can disappear or participate.

Beneath one of van Herpen's extraordinary floor-length creations, an impeccably made evening shoe in a harmonious tone can quietly support the gown.

With a shorter sculptural piece, however, the shoe can become part of the architecture.

Van Herpen herself has collaborated with United Nude on experimental footwear, including the remarkable multi-heeled Fang shoe. For gala dressing, a beautifully minimal Gianvito Rossi or Christian Louboutin sandal could also provide an elegant foundation, depending upon the gown.

Metallic. Mirrored. Transparent. Barely there.

Let the particular dress decide.

The Handbag

Tiny.

An Iris van Herpen gown walking into a gala carrying a large handbag risks suggesting that somebody has brought their carry-on onto the red carpet.

Consider an architectural minaudière. A sleek Roger Vivier evening bag. Perhaps a carefully chosen Judith Leiber piece when its sculptural quality speaks to the gown.

The bag should feel almost like punctuation.

At the Met Gala, Dove Cameron paired her van Herpen gown with a Roger Vivier bag and Le Silla heels. Liu Wen has previously worn van Herpen with Tiffany & Co. jewelry and Giuseppe Zanotti accessories.

The Hair

Look at the architecture surrounding the face first.

If the gown is doing spectacular things around the shoulders, clavicle, or neck, hair swept upward allows the engineering to be seen.

A sleek knot. A sculptural twist. A beautifully severe ponytail.

With an open neckline and a particularly fluid gown, long, simple hair can introduce an appealing human softness against the technical complexity of the garment.

The Makeup

Beautiful skin. One decision.

Perhaps an extraordinary metallic eye with a neutral mouth. Perhaps barely there eyes accompanied by a deep oxblood lip. Perhaps an icy wash around the eyes that quietly echoes the garment.

There is little reason to make every element “futuristic” simply because the gown feels futuristic.

That is how a woman finds herself attending the Galactic Federation fundraiser.

And nobody wants to discover halfway through cocktails that the silent auction benefits interplanetary infrastructure.

Cultural Fluency

Should Iris van Herpen arise over champagne, there is a lovely conversational doorway beyond simply saying that you love her dresses.

You might say:

“I love the way she thinks about movement. You can really see the dancer in her work.”

Her classical ballet background genuinely informs her fascination with the physicality of the body, transformation, movement, and the space surrounding the wearer.

It opens a conversation about the work rather than reciting facts about the designer.

Mention the movement. Allow the conversation to breathe. Kindly resist delivering her complete biography between the appetizer and the entrée.

Couture as Art

Perhaps the most compelling thing about Iris van Herpen is that her couture is conceived as art, with the garment becoming an embodiment of artistic expression.

It is an idea worth lingering over.

Fashion can be decorative. Functional. Expressive. Cultural. Emotional.

And occasionally, it becomes something more difficult to categorize.

A sculpture moves through a ballroom.

Architecture breathes.

Water develops a waistline.

A woman enters a room wearing something that previously existed only in another person's imagination.

For one evening, the gallery moves with her.

That is couture as art.

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