Iris van Herpen Makes Plasma Dresses For Paris Couture Week

For her latest collection, Iris van Herpen harnesses plasma, the fourth state of matter responsible for fire, lightning, and the aurora borealis, transforming elemental force into otherworldly creations.

You can count on one hand the number of designers who make haute couture feel like scientific research, and Iris van Herpen is undoubtedly at the top of the list.

Throughout civilization, human innovation has long mimicked nature, but this season, Van Harpen looked beyond Planet Earth and skyrocketed into the unseen forces that shape the cosmos. Titled “Sonic Starquakes” and attended by the likes of Becca Bloom and Daphne Guinness at the Élysée Montmartre, the collection of 17 looks translated stellar vibrations, plasma currents, spiral galaxies, and exploding supernovae into couture.

The runway’s most extraordinary design, the Helix Nebula, stands as the first couture garment in history to incorporate physical plasma through a crescent moon glass tube suspended on tulle that reacts to the body’s electromagnetic field. Elsewhere, Fractal Universe, developed with scientist Dale Sulak, harnessed the power of millions of electrons to create lightning-like Lichtenberg figures, allowing nature itself to complete the garment’s final silhouette.

Check out all the attendees and looks from the show below.

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