Iris Van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses
By Raishind Singh Gill
If you're looking for a unique and immersive experience, you won't want to miss the Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses exhibition, which pays tribute to one of the most forward-thinking fashion designers of our time. From November 29, 2023, to April 28, 2024, the Musée des Arts décoratifs will host the exhibition, showcasing over one hundred haute couture pieces created by Iris van Herpen herself. Her work will be presented alongside contemporary art by renowned artists like Philip Beesley, Wim Delvoye, Kate MccGwire, and many more, as well as items from the natural sciences.
The exhibition is curated by Cloé Pitiot and assistant curator Louise Curtis, with the scenography entrusted to the Studio Nathalie Crinière. It is organized around nine themes that merge fashion, contemporary art, design, and science. The first theme, water and the origins of life, is omnipresent in the designer’s work and invites visitors to explore the sensory world. The second theme, the skeleton, is inaugurated by a dress that echoes the hybrid skeleton of a work by Japanese artist Heishiro Ishino. The third theme, dedicated to new nature, features the installation Living Shadows by Beesley, which comes to life as a derivative of physical dress and infiltrates its surroundings. An installation by Casey Curran offers a reflection on the place and physical and spiritual future of human beings.
The exhibition culminates with a presentation of Iris van Herpen’s works as if projected in the immensity of the cosmos. But that's not all that visitors can expect. Accompanying the exhibition is a sound composition created by Salvador Breed, which challenges the senses and further immerses the visitor in this journey around the body and the themes close to the designer. Iris van Herpen, born in 1984, founded the Maison Iris van Herpen in Amsterdam in 2007. She combines craftsmanship with innovation, opening up her practice to a host of other disciplines. By collaborating with creatives and thinkers of all stripes, she challenges our notions of Haute Couture. For the past number of years, she has privileged eco-responsible manufacturing methods, as evidenced by certain creations made from recycled plastic or 3D printed cocoa beans. Today, Iris van Herpen is internationally recognized as one of the most remarkable and surprising fashion designers of her generation.
The haute couture pieces showcased at the exhibition question the place of the body in space, its relationship to clothing and its environment, and its future in a rapidly changing world. In short, Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses is more than an exhibition devoted to Haute Couture. It is an immersive journey through this singular and hybrid universe, punctuated by the designer’s research and experiments. So be sure to mark your calendar and explore this one-of-a-kind exhibition from November 29, 2023, to April 28, 2024.