Analysis of an Iris van Herpen collection often requires the consultation of a dictionary; such was the case with her Fall 2012 Haute Couture lineup, titled Hybrid Holism. Holism is the belief that systems and their properties are whole entities rather than a collection of parts, and it offers a way to explain Van Herpen’s practice of using old and new techniques, hand and machine, in service to one end: the art of fashion.
Featuring many metallics, this highly polished collection was inspired, in part, by Hylozoic Ground, an installation presented by Philip Beesley at the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale. One of the main interests of this Canadian architect is responsive architecture, an idea that could have incredible ramifications if applied to fashion, though his influence on this show was indirect and largely aesthetic.
Van Herpen’s main collaborator was an Austrian named Julia Koerner, who helped the designer create a “liquid honey” dress of polymer using the Mammoth Stereolithography technique. With balletic proportions, the feminine design, said Koerner, “reveals a combination of highly complex parametrically generated geometrical structures, almost growing as a second skin on the body, and organic digital leaf formations creating enticing and enigmatic effects.” In other words, it can be viewed as a digital-age homage to Eve’s fig leaf.
