Visiting a fashion exhibition usually means stepping into the past. But Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses at the Kunsthal, Rotterdam offers a rare glimpse into the future and is a very different experience from most fashion exhibitions I have seen. https://www.kunsthal.nl/en/plan-your-visit/exhibitions/iris-van-herpen/
About one hundred designs are highlighted through nine themes to reveal the artist’s inspirations and interests. All of them refer to the world of nature, an artistic choice that has been explored endlessly by artist over the centuries and can hardly be called revolutionary. The difference is that van Herpen seems fascinated with the invisible, with the structure, the code and basic components of life. In that sense she is a thoroughly contemporary artist exploring scientific discoveries as well as technological and digital progress to deliver her creative ideas. The resources that were not accessible to her artistic predecessors who had to rely on intuition while she employs scientific knowledge.
Van Herpen is interested in both micro worlds and macrocosm. The nine exhibition themes focus on the underwater life, forces creating form in nature (morphogenesis), skeletal structures, growth systems, sensory systems, astronomy and cosmology. All that translated into the language of couture fashion. The theme Mythology of Fear highlights the influence of Hieronymus Bosch’s paintings on her works. After all, his native town of ‘s-Hertogenbosch is very close to where she grew up. From her study of Bosch, she retains a certain taste for hybridization, an incessant questioning of human and animal nature, and an interest in fusing both into chimerical beings – explains one of the exhibition panels. She also draws inspiration from the history of science, using ancient maps of Anderas Cellarius blended with images from the James Webb space telescope.
In almost all designs, small elements are repeated time and again until they combine to create an impressive whole. The ideas come from delicate bird feathers, forming a strong wing when put together, the skeletons and spiral shells of tiny sea creatures, planktonic bestiaries, vertebrate skeletal systems, schools of fish or flocks of flying birds, DNA chains or the vortex of a rotating galaxy. Some of them encourage the artist to create a certain texture in her designs.
Iris van Herpen (1984) grew up in the Dutch village of Wamel. After graduating from the ArtEZ University of the Arts in Arnhem, she worked for Alexander McQueen in London, and Claudy Jongstra in Amsterdam. In 2007, she established her own label and presented her first collection during Amsterdam Fashion Week. In 2011, at the age of just 27, Van Herpen joined the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in Paris. Her creations are included in a variety of collections, like the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and her client list includes Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Björk, Tilda Swinton and Scarlett Johansson.
The Rotterdam exhibition explicitly testifies of strong artistic affinity with Alexander McQueen for whom van Herpen worked as an intern before she stablished her own fashion house. Deep interest in organic forms, innovative approach to form and matter are close similarities between the two artists.
Van Herpen is undoubtedly one of the most avant-garde couturiers of her generation. With her pioneering use of innovative techniques, she breaks with fashion conventions but still embraces the traditional craftsmanship of haute couture. She is a visionary.
The exhibition Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses will be opened until 1st March 2026 and is organised by Kunsthal Rotterdam in close collaboration with Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, and Maison Iris van Herpen, based on the original exhibition, designed by Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.
Another words – if you missed it in Paris, here is your chance to catch up in Rotterdam 🙂
