Prepare for a post with a photo overload of the Iris van Herpen exhibition. And the word overload is an understatement. Not everybody is going to like this post, I am sure. You either love the art of this Dutch woman or you can’t care less. For the latter people, scroll down to the section What happened in my life this week and next week’s post will be for you again.

Let’s get the outfit photos out of the way before we continue with the exhibition. My brown jeans go with so many jackets, blazers and jumpers from my wardrobe, that you are going to see them often. This week with my bright green jumper. (Link to the original post where I combined it with orange and called it a sea green jumper.)

Below: This photo and the one at the top of the post were taken in a huge hospital in Rotterdam we had to walk through as we parked in one of their garages. The museum garage was already full at 11 o’clock. Marjolein suggested we’d take the photos here as there was a lot of light, no wind and no cold. Excellent thinking. She also directed the pose (mine was terrible; I looked like a bloke, very ungraceful). Pink boots are by Eijk Store, bag is by Wandler, brooch is by a local artist.

Onwards to the museum.
Using the instructions and address given by the museum (in my defence) we walked in the wrong direction for 20 minutes and had to go all the way back again. Story of my life anyway. When Ron and I are in a strange town, we always go in the wrong direction, despite Google Maps. Anyway, we arrived, being very cold.

Below: We tried two photos with back light.

Below: See that tip on the sole of my boot? That is to protect the nose. Often the soles aren’t long enough to protect the nose from getting damaged. I had my cobbler put these extensions on almost all my shoes and boots.

Below: Marjolein in blue with a cute short jacket. Photo taken outside the Kunsthal.

End of outfit photos.

Iris van Herpen exhibition

Here we go.

Iris van Herpen was born in 1984 and is no less than a genius. She designs haute couture, her work is shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, at the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum (NY) and the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Her dresses are worn by countless celebrities and…by our Dutch Queen Maxima. I gave you a link to read more about Iris.

Below: Iris van Herpen herself.

Below: Our Queen Maxima in an Iris van Herpen dress.

Below: Scarlett Johansson in an Iris van Herpen dress. With scary bird-like heads. Want to see more? Here are 90 Iris van Herpen celebrities, wearing her creations.

Iris creates weird stuff and dresses to die for. What all dresses have in common is that you better have a beautiful body. Most of her dresses are created on gauze or tulle or organza, which is often undetected.

Below: Five dresses with no further comment from me.

Below: This dress moves and swooshes; perhaps they all do?

Below: And this one too.

Below: Close-up of the above dress.

Let’s talk a bit about the materials and the techniques Iris uses.

Below: Digitally printed organza petals heat bonded to 3D laser cut dendrites and stitched onto a tulle base. I have seen the video where the seamstresses are hand stitching everything. My word, haute couture for sure.

Below: Some more material examples. I have seen these blue/green items arrive at the atelier. The bits are pressed out of a mould and then attached (don’t know how) onto the tulle, even the tiniest little bits.

Below: I couldn’t figure out what this dress was made of.

Below: Until I saw this. I suspect it is heavy?

Below: Underneath this dress, you’ll find the explanation in Dutch and English.

Below: A dress with a close-up of the material underneath it.

Below: Close-up of the material. It is all soooo delicate.

Below: The Algae dress was in a glass box with a mist to keep the 125 million living bioluminescent algae alive. Yes, you read that correctly. More explanation underneath the photo in Dutch and in English.

Below: Morphogenesis dress, again with the explanation underneath it. Iris van Herpen uses materials and techniques which are light years ahead of the rest of the industry. You might think ‘That is unwearable’, but A) it isn’t although perhaps more for performing artists and B) she is as much an artist as a dress maker.

Below: Talking about art. Are the gold petals dressing the skeleton? Or are they leaving the body? Awesome. It might be that this is created in collaboration with another designer. She often works with others. Sorry, I don’t know.

Below: A robe. Finally, something you don’t need a gorgeous figure for haha. There are two faces on the front of the robe.

Below: In case you didn’t spot them, here is a close-up of the left face.

Below: A sketch of a dress.

Below: At the exhibition there were waves of mirrors in front of the dresses. Clever, as it prevented the visitors to come too close and touch the dresses and also it reflected the light from above.

Below: Another four dresses with no comment from me.

Below: Some black and white garments. Very good for my Photo Assignment Black and White/Contrast.

Below: No idea what this installation was as I forgot to look at the description.

What can I say? I was in awe over so much creativeness and just couldn’t bring myself to limit the number of photos. You just saw 46 photos, including my outfit photos and the material explanations. That’s a lot but there were more than 100 dresses and creations to photograph.

What happened in my life this week

My US neighbour Mandy (below) came over for a cup of coffee. She moved into the street a few years ago and we chat when we meet outside, trying to avoid our dogs from seeing each other (lots of growling and barking going on). She seems such a nice person and I would like to know her better. I used this photo of her below for my Photo Assignment In Touch/Connection.

I bought a book about colour combinations. Misja (MisjaB blog) was talking about it and as I am quite stupid in this area, so I ordered it. It is called ‘A Dictionary of Color Combinations’ by the Japanese artist Sanzo Wada and stems from 1933. It was groundbreaking at the time. I expected it to be fully translated into English but no, most of it, and certainly the explanations, are in Japanese haha. I have to use Google Photo to translate.

Below: The front of the paperback and two pages. I used page 173 (top right) to create an outfit which Marjolein photographed on Tuesday.

Below: An outfit I wore this week. Photos taken in my bedroom are hard to get right as there is always too little light in these winter months. Black blazer, jeans and a red/cream striped top. The earrings are big in white and black with a red and grey dot. Seattle blogger friend Bella created the badge.

Below: Close-up of Bella’s badge. So quirky.

Beautiful woollen jumpers don’t need to be cleaned after wearing them once. But I also do not want to put them back in the wardrobe with all the really clean jumpers. As it is cold weather time, I just wear a woollen jumper a couple of times for a fortnight, then I get it dry-cleaned (I think, as I have ruined quite a few woollen jumpers by washing them) and it can go back in the wardrobe. Next jumper…
Below: Snuggly warm black trousers (thick tights underneath), with a bit of black and white thrown in.

Friday we spent some time with Froukje and Petro, having coffee and delicious cakes followed by drinks. It was really a sort of Saint Nicholas for us as they gave us a self-made present. More about that next week.

Greetje