The retrospective dedicated to Iris van Herpen at the Brooklyn Museum was inevitable-a necessary tribute to one of the designers who most revolutionized the language of contemporary fashion. From technological innovation applied to materials to biological experimentation, van Herpen redefined the very concept of haute couture. She was among the first designers to introduce 3D printing into fashion back in 2010-just three years after founding her brand-when this technology was still mostly used in architecture and engineering. Over the years, she then pushed the research further and further, even going so far as to create a dress composed of living algae through collaboration with architects, sculptors, chemists, multidisciplinary artists, bioengineers and astrophysicists.
This ongoing creative evolution, along with the designer’s many sources of inspiration, is at the heart of Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses, the mid-career retrospective that opened Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum. The exhibition originated in 2023 at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, which had already acquired the designer’s famous 3D-printed top in 2018, before landing in Australia, Singapore, and Rotterdam.
The New York edition is curated by Matthew Yokobosky, senior curator of fashion and material culture at the museum, along with Imani Williford, assistant curator for photography, fashion and material culture. The exhibition features works from the museum’s collections of American, Asian, contemporary and feminist art, as well as scientific artifacts and natural history specimens, including corals, fossils and skeletons. Contributing to the immersive experience is the soundscape created by Dutch composer and producer Salvador Breed, a life partner of the designer and also the author of the soundtracks for her fashion shows.
Organized around eleven themes, Sculpting the Senses explores van Herpen’s boundless curiosity and eclectic interests: from mathematics to astronomy, neuroscience to marine biology, and paleontology, mycology and mineralogy. The Brooklyn Museum exhibition also features several new pieces by the designer, including the crimson pleated dress created for the pop star played by Anne Hathaway in the film Mother Mary and the algae dress from the Sympoiesis 2025 collection. Created in collaboration with biodesigner Chris Bellamy and researchers at the University of Amsterdam, the dress appears as a luminous three-dimensional lace composed of 125 million living algae capable of emitting light in response to movement. Cultivated for months in seawater tanks, it is displayed inside a temperature-controlled case.
The exhibition also includes many of the looks worn by the designer’s famous clients: from Lady Gaga’s outfits to the iconic Snake Dress sported by Björk at the Roskilde Festival in 2012, to the Heliosphere Dress custom-made for Beyoncé’s performance during the 2023 Renaissance Tour in Amsterdam.
[📸 Snapix]
