After several seasons concentrating on her couture collections, Iris van Herpen made a return to ready-to-wear with Embossed Sounds, which revisited the idea of synesthesia, first explored in the Fall 2010 season. The designer’s idea was to link sound to touch. To do this she embedded sensors in her clothes so that they could be played like instruments and create a “sonic web” around the body.
Van Herpen’s embellished leathers looked as if they had been scarified, a concept carried over from the Fall ’13 Couture collection. The mesmerizing fluidity of high gloss metallic fabrics tempered the harder, more structured “biker” vibe created by the combo of black leather and combat-style shoes made of hand-embossed 3-D pressed silicone. The final fillip? The location: Paris’s Silencio club, designed by the master of neo-noir, David Lynch.
