[Convenient New Feature: ARCHIVE of All Articles]
FROM BOTTOM OF THE FISH BOWL TO HIGH-FASHION RUNWAY
For years, celebrity-favorite Dutch designer Iris Van Herpen has occupied fashion’s edge — not just with original designs made from banana leaves, cocoa beans and 3D-printed polymers but also by standing apart as one of couture’s rare independents.
Blurring the lines between biology, art, and design, Van Herpen has built a reputation outside the powerful luxury design studios that control Paris.
Monday’s collection at Paris Couture Week felt like the high point of her restless experimentation: a show that dared to imagine clothing as both living organism and historical object.
In a shadowy Paris venue, Van Herpen sent out a series of gossamer gowns that seemed to be created from air itself.
At the collection’s heart, a luminous “living dress,” animated by millions of bioluminescent algae, quietly stole the scene.
The dress, created with biodesigner Chris Bellamy, was not sewed together so much as it was grown.
He says, "It is a living system cultivated in seawater and encapsulated in a specialized nutrient gel. A translucent protective coating allows light and air to pass through. Rather than being constructed, the dress is nurtured.”
The algae, thriving within a custom-molded nutrient matrix, glimmered in electric blue as if stitched from the deep sea, offering an eerie, fascinating experience.
According to reports, the dress was composed 125 million bioluminescent algae that emitted light every time the model moved.
Elsewhere, Van Herpen introduced wedding gowns crafted from lab-grown bio-protein, a futuristic Japanese fiber that is biodegradable and endlessly recyclable — a glimpse of a fashion industry re-imagined for the future.
Her creations have become magnets for pop royalty and rule-breakers: Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Björk, Scarlett Johansson, and Natalie Portman have all worn her gowns on the world’s biggest stages.
At this year’s Met Gala, Hailee Steinfeld stunned in a Van Herpen dress made from ocean plastic.
Invention defines her. Van Herpen survives by never playing it safe.
This year, by harnessing living organisms and innovative fabrics, Van Herpen’s latest collection illustrates her guiding principle: what might fashion, and nature, become next?
SOURCE: AP News
LEARNING TOOLS
English questions about this article or about English in general?
Ask Teacher Jack at: asktjack1@gmail.com
CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PAGES:
ALWAYS SOMETHING NEW AT
Offbeat English
https://linggle-offbeatenglish.blogspot.com/