The New Craftsmanship: Iris van Herpen and her Inspiration
27-year-old Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen creates stunning designs with a sculptural allure. She has already won numerous awards, her collections have been received with great enthusiasm by the international fashion press, and pop icon Lady Gaga is a huge fan. But when van Herpen revealed Capriole – her Fall/Winter 2011-2012 collection – on a Paris runway this summer, it didn’t take long before someone dared to call her “the next Alexander McQueen”.
It doesn’t stop there though. For the upcoming exhibition ‘Industrial Revolution 2.0: How the Material World will Newly Materialise’, curator Murray Moss selected two of her pieces to be on display in the world’s greatest museum of art and design: the V&A in London. You’d better be fast to visit the event because it opens the 17th of September and already closes on the 25th of September.
Or you can take a trip to the Centraal Museum in Utrecht who devoted a complete exhibition to one of today’s most talented Dutch fashion designers. From 29 June until 9 October 2011 ‘New Craftsmanship: Iris van Herpen and her inspiration’ is presenting van Herpen’s experimental work and her sources of inspiration. Approximately 25 of her designs will be featured, including her (3D printed) haute couture designs and some spectacular costumes created for dance performances.
Iris van Herpen not only finds inspiration in contemporary artists such as Daniel Widrig, Bart Hess, Stephen Jones, Kris Kuksi and Nanine Linning, It’s a dream come true for her, to work with artists who inspire her, and to work together with others to reinstate fashion as a valuable product by searching for new forms, materials and techniques. In Capriole, she worked with architect Isaie Bloch and Materialise to research and develop five new pieces that fuse traditional crafts with cutting edge 3D printing technology.
The DutchDFA made a great video about Iris van Herpen a while ago. The video gives a great insight on the designer and her work.
The Dutch Design Fashion Architecture (DutchDFA) is a four-year strategic programme (2009-2012) that aims to strengthen the international position of these sectors through a joined-up approach by partners in The Netherlands and intensive collaboration with international partners.
