dayoungl – LookingOutwards 03

 

Iris Van Herpen is a fashion designer who experiments with wide variety of subjects materials to fabricate her garments. Transforming industrial materials such as epoxy to high-end fashion, Harpen plays between the realm of fashion and technology. I first saw Iris Van Herpen’s work exhibited at Carnegie Museum of Art. When I entered the exhibition hall, I saw dresses that were unconventional and stunning- dresses that I have never seen elsewhere. Her dresses were not made from fabrics like other designers. Among her many dresses, I was especially drawn to her water dresses. Her water dresses were part of her couture series “Crystallization”, which inspired by the collaboration work between Herpen and Benthem Crouwel Architect. 

Benthem Crouwel’s design for a new extension to Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum had earned the nickname ‘bath tub’. This inspired Van Herpen to design a dress that would fall around the wearer like a splash of water, like being immersed in a warm bath, and to express in the collection the different states, structures and patterns of water. Noteworthy is that in this collection Van Herpen presents her first 3D-print that she created in collaboration with the London-based architect Daniel Widrig and that was printed by .MGX by Materialise.

Water dresses have very organic shape to them. However, they were intricately planned out for 3d prototyping. From the notes I took from the visit to the CMOA, she faced multiple difficulties and finding an adequate material that could be used for fabrication of this dress was one of them. I believe the material used for the water dresses was acrylic. I was able to find Herpen’s interview on this. When asked about the the procedures of making her water dresses, she commented “It’s a type of acrylic made especially for me that stays transparent after you heat it up. You heat it with hot-air guns and then transform the shapes with metal pliers. It has its own mind and you can never have full control over it. But I really like that. You almost have a relationship with it. I’m doing a project in March with SHOWstudio where I will show how it’s made.” (http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/15493/1/qa-iris-van-herpen). She also states that she was first drawn to 3d printing technology because she liked the visualization process from her design for the human body, which is 3d, to 3d prototypes rather than having to transfer her design to 2d sketches, and then to 3d form.