Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion

  • Closed
#DESIGNIMPOSSIBLE
June 2, 2018 to October 8, 2018
  • Level 4, Roloff Beny Gallery
Look beyond fashion and explore the endless possibilities that come from interweaving design, art, and technology.

About

The exhibition explores the extraordinary designs of Dutch couturier, Iris van Herpen, through her 2008-2015 collections that push the boundaries of traditional fashion and craftsmanship.

Accompanying Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion is the immersive installation Philip Beesley: Transforming Space. Together, they take you on a captivating exploration into design, fashion, technology and the world around us.

Highlights

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Iris van Herpen’s bold creations have been at the forefront of experimentation and collaboration. She has earned international acclaim for her extraordinary shapes that use innovative materials, from metal umbrella ribs to magnets, and by working with leading architects, engineers and scientists, placing her at the edge of new technologies.

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Magnetic Motion dress
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Past collaborations include her work with one of Canada’s most forward-thinking architects, Philip Beesley. Sharing a mutual fascination for materials and structures, van Herpen and Beesley have influenced and contributed to one another’s work to push the boundaries of design and how we think about it.

Collaboration at Work
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Iris van Herpen’s Aeriform collection, presented during Paris Couture week, marked her tenth anniversary. To further contribute to its growing collection of Fashions & Textiles, the ROM commissioned an iconic, soon-to-be-realized piece from this latest collection.

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“To me this dress is . . . an expression of the way Philip inspires me to rethink the relationship between our body and the space around us, to remodel the relation between our insides and our outsides.” — Iris van Herpen
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Directed by: Stylianos Pangalos. Music by: Salvador Breed, Between Music. Editing: Veronica Bonafè. Director of Photography: Matthieu David Cournot, Phil Prieur. Production: ADM paris
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The Dome dress was inspired by air and designed with innovative materials to produce an intricate silhouette that floats around the body like a wondrous silver cloud. Made in collaboration with Philip Beesley, this incredibly light dress was created using delicate and voluminous laser-cut metal lace that was then hand-molded into three-dimensional domes. With nature as van Herpen’s other muse, the rose-like domes mimic bubbles of air reflecting light and billowing around the body, producing the airy, weightless movement of the Dome dress.

See this stunning design and special collaborative piece in the exhibition.

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Aeriform dress

Royal Exhibitions Circle:
Gail and Bob Farquharson
Chris & Kasia Jamroz
Robert E. Pierce & family
Stephen Smith & Diane Blake
James and Louise Temerty
Richard Wernham & Julia West
Jeff Willner & family
Anonymous

Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion is co-organized by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta and the Groninger Museum, the Netherlands. The exhibition was curated by Sarah Schleuning, High Museum of Art, and Mark Wilson and Sue-an van der Zijpp, Groninger Museum.

Authored by: Kait Sykes

Authored by: Kait Sykes

Immerse, interact, and imagine in Philip Beesley: Transforming Space.

Can architecture respond, feel, and care? Can it start, in primitive ways, to come alive? Philip Beesley thinks so. Beelsey’s revolutionary approach to structures and space rests within the emerging field of responsive architecture; interactive lighting and sound are combined with kinetic mechanisms to create structures that breathe, shift, and move in relation to the people they surround. Complementing Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion, Philip Beesley: Transforming Space is an immersive experience that merges chemistry, artificial intelligence and encompassing soundscapes into a visually stunning, interactive environment.

 ‘Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion’ is co-organized by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta and the Groninger Museum, the Netherlands. The exhibition was curated by Sarah Schleuning, High Museum of Art, and Mark Wilson and Sue-an van der Zijpp, Groninger Museum. Philip Beesley: Transforming Space was created by the Living Architecture Systems Group..