WEARING CLOTHES OR ART?
Iris Van Herpen is thirty-three years old and she is a fashion designer. She designs clothes but her clothes are not like other clothes. Her ideas are unusual. She uses unusual materials to create clothes. She uses leather and cotton together with metal chains, umbrella parts, plastic and rubber. She even uses foil to make dresses. She says she gets her ideas from art, architecture and science.
Some people say that her clothes look like costumes from a futuristic science fiction film. Iris says technology inspires her clothes. One of her most famous pieces is called “Magnetic Motion”. It looks like an ice sculpture. She uses 3D printers to create clothes like that.
Van Herpen wasn’t always well known. Her first famous customers were singers like Lady Gaga, Bjork, and Beyoncé. After them, Van Herpen’s design became even more famous. That’s also because some pieces were in a show in the United States. Her clothes are now also in a museum so people can visit the museum to see her designs.
There is an exhibition at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art now. There are 45 pieces of her clothing in the museum exhibition. The pieces are from the designer’s collections between 2008 and 2015. The exhibition starts with her earliest work to her latest. Visitors can see how Van Herpen’s work is different now from her first designs.
The exhibition costs $19.50 for adults and $16.50 for children between 6-17. Children under 5 can visit the exhibition for free.