{"id":2420,"date":"2025-09-25T10:00:30","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T10:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laurenhwhite.com\/?p=2420"},"modified":"2025-10-06T10:56:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T10:56:18","slug":"biodesign-adds-a-whole-new-range-of-possibilities-to-fashion-says-iris-van-herpen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laurenhwhite.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/25\/biodesign-adds-a-whole-new-range-of-possibilities-to-fashion-says-iris-van-herpen\/","title":{"rendered":"Biodesign adds “a whole new range of possibilities” to fashion says Iris van Herpen"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Portrait<\/div>\n

Making clothes using living organisms is fundamentally changing how Iris van Herpen<\/a> thinks about materials<\/a>, the Dutch fashion designer tells Dezeen in this interview<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since starting her own studio 18 years ago, Van Herpen<\/a> has carved out a reputation for sculptural designs that are innovative even for the inherently experimental world of couture<\/a> fashion.<\/p>\n

One of her most recent designs, a dress covered in glowing algae<\/a> from her Sympoiesis collection, exemplifies Van Herpen’s latest focus: biomaterials<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Glowing
A dress from the Sympoiesis collection was made from algae<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Working with a living organism changed how Van Herpen thinks about materials.<\/p>\n

“I’m always trying to push my materiality forward, but I feel it’s a symbiotic relationship, where the materials are also inspiring me to move forward,” she told Dezeen. “That’s exactly what happened with the living look.”<\/p>\n

“The whole process for us in the atelier shifted from constructing something towards caring for something, making sure it stays alive and is happy \u2013 you create a relationship with it.”<\/p>\n

Van Herpen’s atelier a “laboratory for the profession”<\/strong><\/p>\n

To Van Herpen, this shift adds a new dimension to her work with materials, and a change from working with textiles such as cotton or wool, where the material itself is no longer growing.<\/p>\n

“We feel there’s a beautiful new philosophy: thinking about design and materiality in a way where you don’t kill it and you try to maintain it, and bring it into a longer lifespan,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I see it as the start of something bigger that can evolve and influence how we work in the atelier,” she added. “Biodesign is quite a new area with a whole new range of possibilities.”<\/p>\n

\"Dress
Previous collections have featured ocean plastic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Van Herpen hopes working with biomaterials will change people’s perspective on what defines “creation”, and that her atelier’s couture fashion could sow the seeds for material changes in the ready-to-wear industry as well.<\/p>\n

“I see this space as a laboratory for the profession; we take the time to work on new materials,” she said. “It’s especially time that is much harder to find in ready-to-wear, because it goes so much quicker with the collections.”<\/p>\n

“The research and the collaborations that we’re doing are seeds for everything that can be done in ready-to-wear, and a lot of the companies that we work with are also working with ready-to-wear labels.”<\/p>\n

“We still don’t have enough sustainable resources”<\/strong><\/p>\n

While the designer feels positive about the amount of effort that has been put into the development and use of sustainable materials, she says it’s also not enough, arguing that the sheer volume of clothes produced is often the problem.<\/p>\n

“More needs to happen,” Van Herpen said. “Even though, as a very big brand, if you work with more sustainable materials, ultimately it’s also about the amount that you produce.”<\/p>\n

“If you only use sustainable materials \u2013 which is wonderful \u2013 but produce in massive amounts, we still don’t have enough sustainable resources,” she added.<\/p>\n

“It’s a coin with two sides, where on the one hand we need to focus on the sustainable materials, and on the other hand, especially within the ready-to-wear brands, we should show fewer collections and focus more on quality rather than quantity.”<\/p>\n