Iris Van Herpen Autum/Winter 10-11
The first time I heard of Iris Van Herpen was when I came across Kim Kardashian's blog, and she mentioned she was wearing the mind stricking Iris Van Herpen shoes. At first, I couldn't help but to remember Alexander McQueen, but I don't like to compare. It results the Dutch designer has actually worked on the fashion shows of Alexander McQueen and Victor & Rolf. I don't exactly know if her designs are influenced by that of McQueen's or any other relatively close to the designs of McQueen, but I can definitely see that she and the legendary dead designer shared the same love to create and innovate. They don't have limits when it comes to controlling their imagination-which can either work in your favor or not. Gladly, in this case, it worked like a work of art.
Iris Van Herpen makes her designs her own with her high-tech materials such as boat yarns, children's umbrella pins, metal gauze wire, and different types of high-tech foils. All the leather is hand sewn and she mentioned that she would never work with fur, feathers or sequins-she hates them. Hmmm, interesting. Van Herpen is inspired by electronic music which you can probably see in the vibe of her collections. Every designer has a relationship with the body and the dutch designer is no exception. She has an interest in the expansion of the body, which is reasonable since she use to study dance and has even collaborated with award-winning choreographer, Nanine Linning. Iris Van Herpen said "It's really amazing to see the way the clothes move on the dancer as it's so different from when the models walk in them." Van Herpen keeps on striking me with her individuality.
I love seeing designers with a world of ideas and even if to the world they may strike as "weird", is good to start having the confidence to break out of that shell and show your "weirdness". Weirdness is good-it's different. I know, what many of you think: "Lady Gaga would probably wear this!" You bet your ass she would. Celebrities have made various creations acceptable, because when the world sees them wearing these things-they automatically respond to it as "ok to see, and ok to wear." I cannot emphasize the word art when speaking about fashion and I like to believe that apart from her technological uses-Iris Van Herpen invokes art in her designs. Whether it is dancers, electronic music, and foil-like materials, her designs are like watching an art exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum. I wonder if celebrities would ever be seen in her designs(besides her amazing shoes)?
*Iris has regularly shown her collections at Amsterdam International Fashion Week, before going on to show her AW10 collection entitled ‘Synesthesia’ as part of the Blow PR presents show, to great critical acclaim.
Left: Kim Kardahian in Iris Van Herpen Shoes-October 2010, New York City
Right: Solonge Knowls in Iris Van Herpen Shoes-September 2010, Fashion Week, New York City
To see more on Iris Van Herpen, check out her website: http://www.irisvanherpen.com/
PS: Make sure to CLICK the introductory image when entering the Iris Van Herpen site, it'll take you to her collections.
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