Iris van Herpen

Career

Iris van Herpen's first passion was dance. It was when she attended the Preparatory Course Art & Design at ArtEZ during her high school years that she became particularly interested in designing clothes.

She graduated in 2006 from the fashion design department of ArtEZ. The department has a strong international reputation and lists notable graduates as Viktor & Rolf, Alexander van Slobbe (SO; Orson+Bodil), and Lucas Ossendrijver (Lanvin Homme). One year after graduating, Van Herpen launched her own fashion label. Iris van Herpen creates women’s wear collections. Her designs require every time a unique treatment of material or the creation of complete new materials. For this reason, Van Herpen prefers interdisciplinary research and collaborations with other artists.

Iris van Herpen’s work has been recognized through awards, exhibitions, publications, and her guest membership of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture.

Style

As an aspiring fashion designer at the art academy, Van Herpen learned to work with soft fabric. She quickly felt limited by fabric, as she wanted to build, construct, and sculpt with the materials of which she created her designs. This forced her, already early on, to experiment with other materials, and later on to develop materials that approached her concept the closest.

Collaborations

Full list of collaborations:

Artists/Architects:
Philip Beesley, Esther Stocker, Isaie Bloch, Irene Bussemaker, Zach Gold, Stephen Jones, Rem Koolhaas, Russell Maliphant, Neri Oxman, Heaven Tanudiredja, Noritaka Tatehana, Carlos Van Camp, Julia Koerner, Benthem Crouwel Architects, Daniel Widrig

Musicians:
Between Music, Björk,, Beyoncé, Grimes, Lady Gaga, Joey Yung, Kazuya Nagaya

Photographers/Filmmakers:
Nick Knight, Warren Du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Todd Selby, Joost Vandebrug

Other:
Daphne Guinness, Casey Legler, Nanine Linning, Benjamin Millepied, Tilda Swinton Sasha Waltz

Collections

AERIFORM Haute Couture July 2017, Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week
'Aeriform' examines the nature and anatomy of air and the idea of airborne materiality and lightness, creating negative and positive space with shadow and light.

Van Herpen drew inspiration from the Danish underwater artists Between Music who challenge the relationship between the body and its elemental surround, in a subaquatic environment where air is absent. "Their liquid voices and the subsonic darkness from Between Music overwhelmed me. It motivated me to dive into the contrasts between water and air, between inside and outside, between darkness and lightness."-Iris van Herpen Between Music have collaborated with deep sea divers, physicists and neuroscientists over many years to develop a hypnotic biophonic sound sculpture which they perform on custom-built instruments while submerged in water. Their work transcends and transforms the conventional and natural relationship between our bodies and the elements.

Air and water are the structural and visual components of the eighteen elaborate silhouettes of the collection and have influenced the development of both the textiles and garment construction, which is reflected in their volumes, rippling patterning and translucent layering. Biomorphic structures include a feathery-light metal lace of geodesic floral patterns in collaboration with Philip Beesley, which float around the body like a silver cloud. Echo waves of mylar bonded cotton ripple across the skin mapping the surface of the body and painting its contours.
The shoes are made from a soft suede with a parametric welded metal heel, creating a delicate molecular lattice around the foot.

BETWEEN THE LINES Haute Couture January 2017, Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week

SEIJAKU Haute Couture July 2016, Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week

LUCID Haute Couture March 2016, Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week

QUAQUAVERSAL Ready-to-wear Womenswear, October 2016, Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week

HACKING INFINITY Ready-to-wear Womenswear, March 2015, Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week

MAGNETIC MOTION Ready-to-wear Womenswear, September 2014, Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week

BIOPIRACY Ready-to-wear Womenswear, March 2014, Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week

EMBOSSED SOUNDS Ready-to-wear Womenswear, October 2013, Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week

WILDERNESS EMBODIED Haute Couture, July 2013, Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week

VOLTAGE Haute Couture, January 2013, Paris Haute Couture Week

HYBRID HOLISM Haute Couture, July 2012, Paris Haute Couture Week

MICRO Haute Couture, January 2012, Paris Haute Couture Week

CAPRIOLE Haute Couture, July 2011, Paris Haute Couture Week

ESCAPISM Haute Couture, January 2011, Paris Haute Couture Week

CRYSTALLIZATION Haute Couture, July 2010, Amsterdam Fashion Week

SYNESTHESIA Haute Couture, February 2010, London Fashion Week

RADIATION INVASION Haute Couture, September 2009, London Fashion Week

MUMMIFICATION Haute Couture, January 2009, Amsterdam Fashion Week<

REFINERY SMOKE Haute Couture Womenswear, July 2008, Amsterdam Fashion Week

CHEMICAL CROWS Haute Couture, January 2008, Amsterdam Fashion Week

FRAGILE FUTURITY Haute Couture, July 2007, Amsterdam Fashion Week

Awards

2017 Grand Seigneur Award

2016 Art+Technology Award - Witteveen+Bos

2016 Grand prize of the European Commission- STARTS

2016 Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Mode Stipendium

2015 Marie-Claire Prix de la mode, best dutch conceptual designer

2014 ANDAM Awards Grand Prix

2013 Golden Eye Award

2013 Dutch Design Awards, category fashion

2013 Marie Claire prix de la mode , best Dutch Designer

TIME Magazine names Iris van Herpen's 3D printed dresses one of the 50 Best Inventions of 2011.

2010 Mercedes-Benz Dutch Fashion Awards

2010 Dutch Fashion Incubator Awards

2010 Dutch Accessory Awards

2010 Dutch Design Awards, RADO

2009 Dutch Design Awards, best product of fashion and accessory

2009 Dutch Media Awards

Exhibitions

2017 V & A, London. ‘Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion‘
2017 Solo exhibition Dallas Museum of Art. 'Iris van Herpen – Transforming Fashion’, overview of all collections
2017 Gallery46, London. ‘Immortal’ presented by Warren Du Preez & Nick Thornton Jones
2017 Fashion Museum Hasselt, ‘Across Japan'
2017 La Venaria Reale, Turin. ‘JUNGLE. The Animal Imagery in Fashion’
2017 Belvedere, Vienna. The ‘Vulgar’
2016 -2017 Barbican Art Gallery, London. The ‘Vulgar’
2016 Bergkerk, Deventer. Iris van Herpen solo exhibition ‘Metabolic’
2016 BOZAR, Brussels. ‘ Magnetic Motion’
2016 Ars Electronica, Linz. ‘RADICAL ATOMS and the alchemists of our time’
2016 Miami Art Basel. Iris van Herpen ‘Micro'
2016 MAAS, Sydney. ‘Out of Hand: Materialising the Digital’2016 Metropolitan Museum New York , 'MASTERWORKS: UNPACKING FASHION'
2016 Solo exhibition Grand Rapids Art Museum. 'Iris van Herpen Transforming Fashion', overview of all collections
2016 Metropolitan Museum New York , 'Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology'
2016 Barbican Centre Lonon , Barbican Centre London, 'Fashion Redefined'
2016 The Museum of fine Arts, Boston
2016 Maison Mais Non gallery London, honoring Zaha Hadid ‘The Extraordinary Process'
2016 MOMU Museum Antwerp, The 'Game Changers – Reinventing the 20th Century Silhouette'
2016 Cooper Hewitt Museum , New York, 'Beauty- Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial'
2015 -2016 Solo exhibition High Museum of Art, Atlanta. 'Iris van Herpen - Transforming Fashion', overview of all collections
2015 MOMU Fashion Museum, Antwerp, FOOTPRINT. The tracks of shoes in fashion
2015 Palais de Tokyo Museum, Paris, Le bord des Mondes exhibition
2015 Victoria & Albert Museum London , What Is Luxury?
2015 Musee de l'Histoire de l'Immigration, Fashion Mix : le parcours de l'exposition
2015 LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, Love and Loss: Fashion and Mortality exhibition
2014 FIT Museum NYC, Dance & Fashion
2014 Clash- Resistance in Fashion, Heart Herning Museum of Contemporary art, Herning Denmark
2014 Bass Museum of Art, Vanitas: Fashion and Art, Miami Beach, US
2014 A Queen Within: Adorned Archetypes, The World Chess Hall of Fame, Missouri U.S.
2014 The Future of Fashion is Now, Boijmans Museum , Rotterdam
2014 MAD Museum NY, Out of Hand .Materializing the Postdigital
2014 Solo exhibition, overview of all collections, Boras, Sweden in collaboration with Groninger Museum.
2014 Mode, de musical, Centraal Museum, Utrecht
2013 Solo exhibition, overview of all collections, Calais. Museum Cite-Dentelle in collaboration with Groninger Museum.
2013 ArchiLab | Naturalizing Architecture at new FRAC Centre, France
2013 Exhibition SHOWcabinet / SHOWstudio.com, London
2013 MºBA Fetishism in Fashion. Mode Biënnale Arnhem
2013 HAND MADE. Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
2012 Iris van Herpen. Solo exhibition, Groninger Museum, Groningen, The Netherlands
2012 MICRO Impact. Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2012 Excellent Craft. Palace House of Orange. Berlin, Germany
2012 Iris van Herpen. SIEN, exhibition and an exclusive selection of Iris van Herpen. Opening October 13, 2012. Antwerp, Belgium
2011 Self Structure. Lieu du Design, Paris, France
2011 London Design Festival. Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
2011 The New Craftsmanship. Iris van Herpen and her inspiration. Centraal Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands
2011 Basic Instinct. Berlin, Germany
2011 Mode Biennale Arnhem. Arnhem, The Netherlands
2011 Material World. Art, design and fashion. Groninger Museum, Groningen, The Netherlands
2011 Washed up (curated by Judith Clark). Selfridges department store, London, UK
2011 Little Black Dress. The Civic gallery, Barnsley, UK
2011 Transformation. Swarovski exhibition at flagship store in Vienna, Austria
2011 Fashion&Chocolate. Harbour City Exhibition, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China
2010 BLACK. Masters of Black in Fashion & Costume. MOMU, Antwerp, Belgium
2010 Fashion & Architecture. ARCAM, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
2010 In your Face. Centraal Museum, Utrecht, the Netherlands
2010 Dutch Design Awards exhibition. Eindhoven, the Netherlands
2010 Best of Dutch Design. Red Dot Museum, Essen, Germany
2010 Dutch Cultural Pop-up Space. London Fashion Week, London, UK
2010 10xxx. Gallery Helpuzelven, Winterswijk, the Netherlands
2010 Haute Couture Voici Paris. Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, the Netherlands
2009 Harrods launches. In-store exhibition and sales, London, UK
2009 Shape. Mode Biennale Arnhem, The Netherlands
2009 Dutch Design Awards. Eindhoven, The Netherlands
2009 Design Overtime. Eureka Night, Design Museum, London UK
2009 Shanghai Creative Industries Week, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
2009 Rollan Didier meets Iris van Herpen. Gallery FashionMania, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2008 Bridges to Fashion. Historical Museum, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2008 Galeries Lafayette. Paris, France
2008 V!P Gallery. Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2008 Mememachine Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2007 SPRMRKT. Amsterdam, The Netherlands