Iris van Herpen. Spring 2021 Couture
(Images: Iris van Herpen 2021)
Iris van Herpen’s couture is not only a representation of her precision artisan skills as a technological savvy fashion designer, but also a keen explorer in pushing the boundaries of science in all of its hope and futurism. Her Spring 2021 presentation of this year was a stunning achievement, integrating earthy tones into her now synonymous 3D printed flowing styles, sourcing, as an inspiration, the biological study of Mycology. I have been reviewing her shows for over a decade now and have always been impressed with the reflection of nature and the interactive aesthetics, which, as she has promoted in her seasonal collections, advocating an ecological stance of renewable materials. With her Spring couture showing endorsing the plastic recycle company Parley for the Oceans, who scour the global oceans and seashores for the tons of throwaway consumer plastic that flow within the ocean currents, that either ending up dumped on beaches or consumed by wildlife. To which Van Herpen has used these recycled polyester fabrics in some of her more elaborate 3D printed styles.
With COVID-19 somewhat abating throughout the world, due to vaccinations and of course the age old use of quarantines and lockdowns. It is science that has come through with the answer, yet it hasn’t been easy, with the over inundation of information and fast paced digital relay feeds. Truth can be distorted from all angles and the effort to encourage vaccinations against the virus has been fraught to say the least. Van Herpen’s Fall 2021 couture has been titled “Earthrise” despite it still within the lookbook setting, the Dutch designer has incorporated a vast and cinematographic perspective to her new collection. Themed by the intensity that nature has to offer and its awe inspiring power, her latest Couture showing is truly a grand spectacle, with models walking through and posing in front of formidable natural landscapes, whilst having Domitille Kiger, the world champion French skydiver leap from a plane with a Van Herpen Fall 2021 couture dress on. It is one of the most emotionally driven fashion film clips to come out of the lockdowns, a motivation piece more than not, witnessing the Earth rise from the moon at the start of the clip, to its ending, as the Sun rises, as viewed from the Earth. If there is a unambiguous lesson here, it would be, we, as human beings are truly nothing and yet everything within the natural cycle.
The collection is 19 pieces in total with collaborative efforts between jewelry designer James Merry, who did the eye and nose jewelry designs for the collection and Rogan Brown’s science and nature based sculpture artwork to the extraordinary talented artist Casey Curran, who is inspired by the natural formation of sea coral. Yet, it is Van Herpen’s Utopian ideas of Science and Art merging, that holds the closest distinction of those futurist possibilities, which she has further elaborated in displaying her Fall 2021 collection. The flowing, ethereal dresses, enveloped to represent the anfractuous changes of natural, that despite it at times appears deterministic, is most definitely a chaotic presence. But, it is Van Herpen’s humanism which manifests a unique point of view, even as the natural foreground holds a grandeur of relevance, her intricate and stylized couture work is of exceptional quality.
A strikingly beautiful collection.
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( A.Glass 2021)
Couture 2023 review soon
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