eeryan-LookingOutwards-03

Escapism is a collection by Iris Van Herpen in collaboration with architect Daniel Wildrig and digital manufacturer .MGX by Materialise that encapsulates feelings of emptiness that result from escaping daily struggles via digital environments. It was one of the collections of hers that was featured at the Carnegie Museum of Art last Spring. When I went to see the exhibit, I was very interested in the intersection of fashion and digital manufacturing in her designs, as a designer who has an interest in fashion. Van Herpen’s work manifests along the borders of fashion, digital manufacturing, and product design. Many of the outfits in the collection are partially made via computational fabrication, using 3D printing. Her work realizes a combination between traditional craftsmanship and digital processes, as many pieces of her collections are 3D printed. The attached piece was made without any seams, and is completely 3D printed. For the piece above, she used an algorithm to create a a garment created of thin rumpled mesh.