The age of innovation is not a myth. The dynamic transformation of long-standing standards in all spheres of everyday life shows how we ourselves become objects of modernization without realizing this fact.

Technological development in the sphere of clothes designing is characterized by its specific dynamics. Probably not in the truest sense of the word but somewhat remotely it sparks creativity in conceptualist designers who give preference to technologies in fabrics brought by mathematical formalism. This brings excitement and admiration in connoisseur circles where the authenticity and sacral significance of fashion are highly regarded. With designs that are seemingly unacceptable in everyday life made of non-standard fabrics and combined with unusual accessories, they attract the attention of thrill-seeking buyers who offer their designs to the public as a future that has already come about, thus extending the usual product line!

For six years at a run, the name Iris van Herpen has been in the official timetable of Paris couture. The guest designer creates far from being trivial models which correspond to all the standards of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. Her designs testify to her potential and include quite wearable garments alongside objects which are genuine works of art. The deeper one delves into the core of her experiments with fabrics, structures and forms, the better idea of the 21st-century couture one gets. It is expected to be non-trivial, stylish and sophisticated.

A huge cultural center Maison des Métallos was transformed under the guidance of the Italian installation artist Esther Stocker into a psychedelic geometrical space. All around the perimeter glinting impulses entwined and dispersed from the perspective of the agate horizon along the catwalk and went straight into the camera lenses of insatiable journalists. The whole event brought to light the idea at the heart of the name of the Spring 2017 Couture collection – “Between the Lines”. Indeed everything in the surrounding world has not so much an obvious lineal conection as an explicit one hidden between the parallels of existence.

The primary focus of the collection is the form which can be essentially sophisticated and elaborate as far as a multifaceted construction can be as light as air and so intricate at the same time. The designer’s attention to basic geometric figures sends us on to the roots of tailoring craft which, as van Herpen keeps telling, allows for seeing the groundwork of her multilayer and to some extent engineering solutions.

Fabrics that look as if they are completely unsuitable for designing such skintight ensembles equally leave a lasting impression. I believe that in the X-shaped dresses, the transparent polyurethane handpainted with ink injection and molding by laser imitates the texture of fish gills while in the I-shaped print-casted dresses this material vaguely resembles an ornate fish skeleton. It looks as if the designer drew her inspiration from the diversity of sea life probably because this is where life started. The brigandine dresses with different silhouettes make you think of coral surface or fish scale while coats and jackets remind you of a squid or octopus. The final Alchemy of Light dress draws parallels in form and texture with phosphorescent jellyfish in the ocean depth, changing its margins into impossibly intricate and light constructions.

What is it? Is it the designer’s attempt to appeal, through the prism of her creative work, to the lay audience that pin faith on the new era tendencies artificially churned out by designers? Or is it the creator’s invitation to reflect on possible scenarios for the development of tailoring craft in the age of modernization?

I won’t make any conclusions so that you can fantasize about this on your own. Perhaps looks from Iris van Herpen’s collection will help you imagine the fashion of the future that will suit you.