Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion

The exhibition displayed the bold vision of one of today’s most original fashion designers with 45 exquisite outfits from 15 collections. Van Herpen works at the nexus of fashion, design, technology, and science. With a dynamic and path-breaking body of work, she is widely heralded as a pioneering new voice in fashion. She is known for her willingness to experiment—exploring new fabrics created manipulating iron filings in resin, incorporating unexpected materials ranging from umbrella tines to magnets, and pushing the boundaries of technologies such as 3-D printing. Her work has been worn by style icons such as Lady Gaga, Beyoncé and Björk and has graced the runways of Amsterdam, London and Paris. This exhibition documented the evolution of Iris van Herpen’s couture through a selection of her collections from 2008 through 2015 and illustrated the many ways she continues to seek inspiration beyond the world of traditional handwork and craftsmanship. The exhibition was 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.