July 7, 2026 |
At Iris van Herpen, couture is rarely content with gravity. For AW26, the Dutch designer looked upwards, mining the invisible mechanics of the cosmos in Sonic Starquakes – a collection shaped by vibrating stars, plasma fields and the branching geometries of lightning. It all sounds impossibly esoteric, but on the runway, it seemed to make sense.
Van Herpen’s gift has always been translating scientific theory into something instinctive, and here silhouettes seemed to flicker between body and atmosphere. Laser-cut velvets rippled across the torso before dissolving into embroidered trompe l’œil, while moon-curved carbon-fibre structures suspended pleated chiffon mid-air, as though caught in zero gravity. More than 30,000 hand-blown glass spheres hovered across illusion tulle, scattering light with every step and softening the outline of the body into something almost spectral.
One standout look arrived glowing. The Helix Nebula dress – incorporating plasma for the first time in couture – pulsed with a deep nebula-red light, transforming the wearer into part of its electromagnetic circuit. Elsewhere, the palette shifted from inky midnight to cobalt, moonstone green and flashes of storm-lit silver, mirroring the birth of stars.
Even at its most technically ambitious, there was remarkable restraint. Rather than overwhelm with spectacle, Sonic Starquakes reminded us that Van Herpen’s greatest innovation remains her ability to make the impossible feel utterly wearable. This was couture for the space-age.
Photography courtesy of Iris Van Herpen.
