Widely known as one of the first designers to utilise 3D printing as a clothing construction technique, Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen steadily emerged as a sartorial trailblazer within the haute couture space over the past decade. Founded in 2007, van Herpen—whose name is now synonymous with fabric innovation—caught the eye of style savants and industry figures with her boundary-breaking sculptural works that sit at the intersection of design and technology.

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While her creations are most commonly spotted on the red carpet and on stage—with early adopters that include music iconoclasts Lady Gaga and Björk, alongside renowned stars like Tilda Swinton and Scarlett Johansson—local and regional fans of her work can finally have the chance to see her intricate creations up-close with her exhibition at the ArtScience Museum.

From now till 10 August 2025, "Sculpting The Senses" will be open to the public. Previously shown at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 2023, the Singapore edition of this major retrospective will feature over 140 of the designer's most emblematic creations, including artworks from the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum and various Southeast Asian artists.

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Amidst immersive soundscapes and curated rooms, visitors will be journeying through 11 zones and nine different themes. Each space reveals how van Herpen's otherworldly creations or "wearable sculptures" are a seamless amalgamation of traditional craftsmanship and cutting-edge methods like algorithmic design and laser cutting. The exhibition opens with the theme of water—a recurring source of inspiration for van Herpen as she creates fluid silhouettes that mimic the medium's fascinating properties. Subsequent rooms also peel back the layers behind groundbreaking collections like her marine life-inspired Sensory Seas (2020) and the kinetic-driven Syntopia (2018), as well as iconic custom pieces like the Bene Gesserit gown worn by singer Grimes for the 2021 Met Gala.

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Meanwhile, there are eclectic spaces such as Alchemic Atelier—a room that features a plethora of samples taken directly from van Herpen's design studio in Amsterdam—that offers a more intimate picture into the designer's multi-disciplinary approach and her extensive collaborations with engineers and scientists. Ahead, we speak to the couturier on the exhibition's curation process and what inspires her the most.

One of the most captivating aspects of your work is how rooted they are in the female form and nature. Why do they serve as such a profound source of inspiration?

There's definitely a strong feminine force behind my work, and of course, it's inspired by me being a woman, but also by a lot of inspirational women that I know within the creative sector. As an independent female designer, it feels very important for me to be leading my own business and not be part of a structure led by men. I grew up in a time in the Netherlands where the feminism movement was really strong, and I got that sense of empowerment from my parents as well. Unfortunately, we're now living in a time again where certain rights for women are diminished and even taken away in some countries, and that breaks my heart.

Nature is also a huge source of inspiration for me as I feel like it's about expanding people's consciousness on who they are. We tend to focus so much on ourselves, but we are actually so dependent on nature. I try to show these invisible connections that we have with the environment and the interconnectedness of life in my work. I'm a big believer of the Gaia theory—the concept where everyone is a part of one big organism—and that's how I see life as well. Some people might think the unfamiliar is something that they want to stay away from, but I actually feel that we can feel more connected to ourselves if we understand that we are part of something bigger.

You’ve often reiterated that technology and fashion often overlap. How do you bridge the gap between cutting-edge techniques like 3D printing and traditional craftsmanship methods?

It's a natural evolution in my work. In the earlier years, the techniques I used were very much separate, because I would either use traditional methods like hand-drawing or draping fabric on a mannequin, or something innovative like creating digital sketches on a computer, or laser cutting. But over the past decade, I've learnt to integrate a multitude of techniques into one look, and it was through this deep understanding of various disciplines that I was able to achieve this seamlessness in my creations. It was also a learning process for the people I worked with—they were either skilled in more conventional design practices or in computational fields like architecture and science. After working together on the same creations, they have also learnt how to integrate other techniques over time.

What do you learn most when you collaborate with individuals from different fields?

There is so much to learn, and I still feel a baby in that sense. Someone that I really look up to as a mentor is Philip Beasley. He's an architect and professor from Canada and he has dedicated his whole life to material development and innovation. I remember meeting him 11 years ago, and it was like a library that opened for me—the amount of knowledge that he has on materials outside of fashion was astounding. We probably had hundreds of hours of conversation with each other, and we also did a lot of research and development with different kinds of fabrics. For instance, he taught me the science behind bonding materials. Since every material has a grain (a weakness and a strength in different directions), heat molding allows one to manipulate the fabric's strength and even an ultra-soft material could be laser cut. This is why no other atelier can laser cut the way we do it—in the fineness of a millimeter or sometimes even thinner.

Why did you decide to host your first Asian exhibition in Singapore?

I felt that this museum is such a perfect blend of what I'm doing. There are not many museums in the world that integrate the worlds of art and science. For me, "Sculpting The Senses" was always much more than just a fashion exhibition. I really wanted it to be a retrospective that combined couture, art and science. I also feel that Singapore is akin to a garden city, and it really embodies my vision of what a city should be. I hope that a lot of cities in our near future will embody a similar vision as Singapore.

Putting together an exhibition of this scale comes with an intimidating set of challenges. Can you share more on this?

From start to end, it was a very hands-on experience. Before debuting at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, I worked on this exhibition for five years—a process I assumed would only take two or three years. And then after Paris, we spent another year preparing for Singapore. This time, we showcased over 140 looks and accessories, as well as plenty of artworks from regional artists. As a perfectionist, I also focus a lot on sound and light to create an immersive experience. The other major challenge I faced was narrowing down the garments I wanted to show. I initially had a much wider scope because there are so many influences in my work and collaborations that it was difficult condensing my life's work into just nine themes. I had to keep coming back to the essence of who I was as a creative and what felt the most important.

What are some takeaways you hope visitors get from the exhibition?

I hope that the exhibition can expand people's idea of what fashion is. It can be transmuted into something very meaningful and very personal—a form of art in which we can express ourselves, in who we are, our identities, our philosophy of life. Fashion is something deeply personal, yet it's also connected to all the other layers of life like religion and social movements. I hope people feel that interconnectedness and the freedom to express themselves.

"Iris van Herpen: Sculpting The Senses" is now on till 10 August 2025 at the ArtScience Museum.