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Iris Van Herpen: The Latest Meta Morphism Collection Is Spellbinding
On Monday, July 4th, Dutch designer Iris van Herpen unveiled her latest collection at Paris Haute Couture Week. The collection, called Meta Morphism, celebrates Van Herpen’s 15th anniversary as a designer. It also honours her futuristic and experimental style throughout the collection.
Meta Morphism
The collection was inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The designer captioned various Instagram posts explaining the inspiration behind the looks, the first of which stated:
“While the collection is inspired by post-humanism, it speaks to a greater message of introspection and reflects on Ovid’s Magnus opus poem ‘Metamorphoses’, written around the 8th century. At the time of Ovid’s writing, humanity and its place amongst nature, yet Ovid’s retelling exists a relevance today, navigating the ramifications of technology that is constantly complicating the definition of our identity. With the ability to recreate our digital twins, the space of soul-searching, losing a sense of self and finding new realities are life lessons.”
The Genesis Dress
The collection was as breathtaking as any of Van Herpen’s. She opened with the Genesis dress, and the show amazed me from the onset. The green-gold sculptural gown was both structured and free-flowing. The satin draped in a way that was almost liquid in its movement. But this beautifully hung satin was combined with a strict banana leaf fabric. The fabric contained and structured the look with the help of a slightly exposed corset. The contrast of these materials, both in colour and structure, created a beautifully opposing look. It was both striking and elegant.
Van Herpen’s Skeletal Designs
From here, the show went from strength to strength. Van Herpen began to display the skeletal boning designs that have become a trademark of hers as of late. This has been particularly true since Dove Cameron wore one of her designs to the Met Gala this May. That was an alternative look at Guilded Glamour. As she created the structure and silhouette of a traditional gown with boning. But she did so with her usual futuristic touch. Look five was one of the standout pieces of the collection. It truly embodied the theme of ‘post-humanism’ in the collection as it combined a skeletal structure with an angelic silhouette.
The Cosmogonic Myth Gown
One of my favourite looks from the collection was the Cosmogonic Myth gown. The Iris van Herpen Instagram page described it as: “A sculptural transparent bodice is 3D printed with SLS technology and fluidly draped with sustainable off-white banana leaf fabric to bloom voluminously from the shoulder into a soft asymmetric train silhouette.”
The gown, like many in the collection, plays with the notions of rigidity and fluidity as the draping, flowing banana leaf material stems from a strict centre that appears as an almost ribcage or spinal structure to the gown. These binaries not only create a stunning design, but they also play into the theme of post-humanism as the rigid structure of the dress’ ‘body’ acts as a centre that the ’soul’ of the dress can flow from.
The Narcissus Gown by Iris Van Herpen
Look 11 went in a completely different direction from the others that we had seen in the show so far. The all-black gown was elaborate in stature and featured the most intricate white detailing depicting women’s faces across the piece. What I believed to be the most beautiful aspect of this look was the perfect alignment of the dress with the model whose face was half covered by the gown, merging the silhouette on the gown with the model’s makeup that followed the same stylistic design as the dress itself.
The Meta Morphism Gown by Iris Van Herpen
A look that truly astounded me in this collection was the closing look in the collection, named the Meta Morphism look. It is the titular look of the collection. The look was said to be inspired by Daphne and Apollo, an Instagram post by Iris van Herpen was captioned:
“The Meta Morphism look is embodying the very moment that Daphne transforms into a laurel tree, diffusing the creation of plant and bone structures growing together. This look imagines a future hybrid of Daphne’s myth in which the body is boundlessly trans-formed and where man and nature are indistinguishable.”
The look features silk leaves embellished with crystal beads which emulate an angelic yet overtly natural image combining the themes of myth and nature in an ethereal look that, although static, manages to capture a moment of transformation.
Conclusions
In a collection full of showstoppers, it is truly impossible to single individual pieces, and if I could write about every look in this show, I would. I have not been this blown away by a cohesive yet unbelievably varied collection before, and I look forward to seeing what Irish van Herpen’s next collection will hold.
