Iris Van Herpen
An exhibition at the International Centre for Lace and Fashion of Calais enters the avant-garde universe of fashion designer Iris Van Herpen.
Van Herpen has made a considerable impact in the world of Haute-Couture in recent years. Her innovative, sculptural dresses represent a major contribution to the conceptual end of high fashion, deconstructing and examining the creative process and the relationship between clothes and the human form. Van Herpen creates clothes of subtle, poetic, unsettling beauty, with unique forms which place each piece somewhere between Haute-Couture and contemporary art.
The International Centre for Lace and Fashion of Calais, highlights the recent collections of Iris van Herpen through the presentation of 30 dresses and numerous photographs. The radically original forms and materials used in Iris van Herpen’s works qualify them as “wearable sculptures”.
The pieces on display demonstrate her ability to craft complex designs that draw on a wide variety of techniques, with interweaving elements, intricate lacing and fluting. Some materials make recurring appearances: leather in various forms and styles, acrylics subjected to various manipulations, metal chains and plastic straps.
Iris Van Herpen’s pieces are on display at The International Centre for Lace and Fashion of Calais, France from Saturday 15 June until Tuesday 13 December 2013: www.cite-dentelle.fr
