In the center of Iris van Herpen’s venue today, lying flat on a plinth, was the actress Gwendoline Christie. The Game of Thrones star remained there motionless for the whole show, even as the trio of animatronic trees surrounding her began to move, as if they were weaving the soft, fishnet-like dress that spread out in a circle around her. Quaquaversal is the name Van Herpen gave her new collection: It means “going off in all directions,” and backstage she said that’s how she approaches her work, collaborating with scientists, artists, biologists, and now performers.
Van Herpen is one of contemporary fashion’s few true conceptual thinkers, one for whom process is as integral as the finished product. Indeed, like Hussein Chalayan this season with his disintegrating dresses, she asked us to reconsider the very notion of a finished product with her “growing” one. Beyond the performance piece, there was much of interest on Van Herpen’s runway, where the designer worked hard to combine craftsmanship and technology.
She started with sportswear: skirts, tops, a leanly cut little dress. It was normal stuff but for the laser-cutting and hand-weaving. The silhouettes were pure and simple so the materials could shine, and shine they did on crystal-studded chain-link dresses of the Paco Rabanne variety. Only here the chain wasn’t chain at all, but a clear synthetic material that made the crystals look as if they were floating without a tether. The most exceptional work came toward the end of the show on a pair of looks as delicate as a fine tracery, with so much negative space they were more not there than there. Laser-cut fishnet gowns appeared to have been made from a weightless silvery metal. With their futuristic aspects, these pieces of Van Herpen’s will be fitting for Christie when she hits the red carpet for her two holiday blockbusters: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 and Star Wars: Episode VII. This relationship could be very good for both of them.
