“For me fashion is an expression of art that is very closely related both to me and to my body. I see it as an expression of identity combined with desire, moods and a cultural setting.”
She was born in Wamel, the Netherlands. She got a love for fashion from her grandmother, who collected stage clothes as a pastime activity. As a little child, Iris attended ballet classes, but soon she realized she was more fascinated with handcraft.
During high school years, she became particularly interested in designing clothes, and decided to study fashion. She went to ArtEZ, and Claudy Jongstra in Amsterdam. In the meantime she interned at Alexander McQueen in London.
As a fashion student, she was strongly against using technology in designing process. She did all her fashion drawings by hand, never using computer. A turning point came when she was introduced to 3D printing and understood how easier would it make designing complex geometrical shapes.
Van Herpen graduated in 2006, and in 2007 she started her own label focusing on women's wear collections. Since her first show in 2007 she has been continuously preoccupied with inventing new forms and methods of expression by combining the most traditional and the most radical materials and garment construction methods into her unique aesthetic vision.
Van Herpen is considered as a pioneer in using 3D printing as a garment construction technique, and as an innovator who is comfortable with using technology as one of the guiding principles in her work.
Because of van Herpen’s interest in multidisciplinary approach to creation that goes beyond fashion, she has often collaborated with various artists such as Jolan van der Wiel and Neri Oxman and architects such as Philip Beesley and Benthem and Crouwel Architects.
The designer’s interest in science and technology has led to ongoing conversations with CERN (The European Organization for Nuclear Research) and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
Today, van Herpen continues to work within her Amsterdam studio, where new ideas are born, and where Haute Couture orders are meticulously crafted for her global clientele, each creation passing through the designer’s own hands.
KNOW MORE:
Iris Van Herpen for Vogue Greece:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUthbow4ptk
interview with Iris Van Herpen for CNN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTCmFL-v66M
interview with Iris Van Herpen by SHOWstudio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjp8uxXEZHI
how an Iris Van Herper gown is made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNnUiEwfwXM&t=29s
