The Dutch designer redefines the ‘couture show’ in her Sculpting the Senses exhibition at Musée des Arts Décoatifs.
From the thought-provoking Paris 1874 Inventing Impressionism at Musée d’Orsay to Mark Rothko’s retrospective at Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris boasts an unmissable programming of exhibitions to enjoy this year. Iris Van Herpen’s solo exhibition, currently exhibiting at Musée des Arts Décoratifs is a must-see in the French capital — unless you’ve already had the delight in experiencing Van Herpen’s five-year in-the-making exhibition Sculpting The Senses.
The Dutch designer — who recently received a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres from the French Ministry of Culture — undertook an internship at Alexander McQueen after graduating from ArtEz Amsterdam in 2006. Browsing over a hundred haute couture pieces at Musée des Arts Décoratifs, it is clear to see how the British house’s penchant for tailoring influences the meticulous craft behind Van Herpen’s bespoke designs.
Stitching together the different disciplines of art, science, fashion, dance, architecture and technology, Van Herpen’s collections are explored through the exhibition’s eleven stages. Challenging the boundaries of science and fashion, the viewer is invited to travel through Sensory Sea Life, Water and Dreams, Forces Behind the Forms, Skeletal Embodiment, Growth Systems, Synesthesia, Alchemic Atelier, Cabinet of Curiosities, The Mythology of Fear, New Nature and lastly, Cosmic Bloom. To deepen the experience, each “stage” of the show includes its own sound installation composed by Salvador Breed, Van Herpen’s partner.
Sculpting The Senses’ genesis engulfs the viewer in an aquatic universe; questioning the body’s relationship with water; whether interacting with frozen, liquid or gas. In Water and Dreams, splashes of water disperse from transparent dresses made from a 3D moiré technique in which hand-plisséed and line-printed organza is hand stitched on transparent tulle.
Questioning the body’s relationship to it’s natural environments, the viewer is scoured into an otherworldly desert terrain in Skeletal Embodiment, where Van Herpen’s dresses are swept into the air, as they’re carried by Japanese shoe designer Noritaka Tatehana’s signature heelless platforms. The mannequins are given a levity, evoking a metaphysical barrier, as seen in Van Herpen’s AW15 show.
Next, visitors are invited to leave the physical dimension of their body to explore the sensory world in Synesthesia through photographs by Tim Walker and geometric beehive sculptures by Ren Ri. The artworks and artists displayed throughout Sculpting The Senses showcase the vastness of Van Herpen’s influences, as she “challenges the laws of physics and seek to visualise the invisible”— a unique design approach at a time when commerciality of brands can outrun creative liberty.
In the exhibition’s finale, the Dutch designer’s ethereal garments are projected across the gallery ceiling; bodies floating across the cosmos, as if transcending space and time. ‘Mannequins are hanging from the ceiling, sideways, and upside down, so you feel like you’re in another dimension,’ says the curator, Cloé Pitiot.
Never hesitating to go to the extreme, Van Herpen had previously enlisted a skydiving champion clad in a gown from her Fall 2021 ‘Earthrise’ Couture Collection to jump from a plane – a video of the performance is projected in this space.
Drawing Sculpting The Senses to a close, an evocation of Van Herpen’s studio is realised by Pitiot and assistant curator Louise Curtis. It is clear that the pair worked closely with Van Herpen’s team to reconstruct the Maison’s Amsterdam-based atelier, ensuring viewers oversight of the design process – from start to finish. Hundreds of material samples are displayed to touch and feel, alongside archive footage of every Van Herpen catwalk show.
Much more than an exhibition devoted to Haute Couture, Iris Van Herpen. Sculpting The Senses takes visitors on an immersive journey through the designer’s multisensory universe, punctuated by the designer’s ambition to reinvent the métier as the engine of innovation.
‘Iris has an amazing freedom in her creations. There is no limit,’ says Pitiot. ‘She can do everything, and she can go in every direction – back to the past or directly to the future.’
“Iris Van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses” runs until 28 April 2024 at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
Homepage image top; Iris van Herpen —Arachne bustier,“Meta Morphism” collection 2022. Polyester silk, mylar, tulle, Swarovski crystals, embroidery thread, stainless steel, Iris van Herpen Collection © Dominique Maitre. Homepage image left; Luigi and Iango for Iris van Herpen —Skeleton Dress,in collaboration with Isaie Bloch Capriole Collection2020 Iris van Herpen private collection. Homepage image right; Iris van Herpen — In collaboration with Kim Keever Cosmica minidress “Shift Souls” collection 2019 Silk organza, cotton Iris van Herpen Collection © Dominique Maitre. Inside image top left; David Uzochukwu for Iris van Herpen —Hydrozoa Dress Sensory Seas Collection 2020 Iris van Herpen private collection. Inside image top right; Sølve Sundsbø for Iris van Herpen. Hypersonic Speed Top. Capriole Collection. 2018. Iris van Herpen private collection. All images courtesy of Musée des Arts Décoratifs.
