Apr 29, 20202 min read

Fashion update: Sensory Seas

By Monisha Shivaraj

With every new season, Iris Van Herpen gets deeper into summoning a different design of nature each time. The spring 2020 couture collection is the sensory seas, an aesthetic configuration of 21 intricate looks that bridge the human body with the ecology of the sea.

This collection in depth is mirrored to every element of the sea including the waves of the sea and its sound, the blue water and the bubbles, the seashells and corals, the fossils and fins, the plants and the gills. The 21 silhouettes aren’t just a replica of the mighty underwater world, but also evoke the art and science of its movement. From the movement of the fins and the plants to the dancing of the light with the waves, every movement under the ocean has been engraved in every cut, colour, dimension, flow, and fabric of the clothing line.

One of the inspirations for this collection came from the works of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, a Spanish neuroanatomist. He studied the histology of the central nervous systems and archived his research through his anatomical drawings. Another inspiration was from a deep study into the life of Hydrozoa, a class of specialized individual animals that live in salty seawater. The entire line of clothing is a connection between the task of dendrites and synapses transporting numerous signals throughout our body and the anthropology of the Hydrozoan species underwater.

The convoluted laser cut and the labyrinthine technique highlights the elegant shades of blue, lilac, and red bleeding into one another and giving it a marble look. Iris van Herpen is also known for extensively using 3D printing as a technique of garment construction. She blends the technology and the traditional haute couture and this is what makes her designs so unique.

The entire line has been accessorized with platform shoes, the sensory seas shoes, in all available colours. Her artistic technique with the laser cut silk, silk Chiffon, glass-organza, hand-embroidered work, the laser-cut petG bubbles, and then hand-stitched splashes bring life and movement to each look in the spring 2020 couture.

Every design by iris van Herpen is a connection to humans and nature, and sometimes they appear to be a connection between our world and another world.