Iris Van Herpen is a designer, that is between high-technology and imagination. And, what’s most exciting about her, is the fact, that she makes both of these things real- or rather bio-real. Her ready-to-wear collection for AW14 showed in Paris was called Biopiracy- the biological respiration. Three models were elevated in vacuum spaces, having their air taken away every minute by the plastic which shrinked. The models looked very alien- like if an UFO was going to be born! Surely, that made the show really buzzed about (to that degree that National Geographic got interested in it)… But talking of the collection it was… extreme. Not only because of the shoes designed by Rem Koolhas, but becasue of the sci-fi shapes and fabrics. The most obvious example of this is her groundbreaking embracing of 3-D printing, which is becoming something of a signature. It gives many of her clothes an architectural quality, and today’s final silicone 3-D-printed dress was made in conjunction with one of her collaborators, the Canadian architect Philip Beesley. Collaboration is key for Van Herpen; one of her other working relationships is with the Material Department of MIT. Her next step is a project with CERN—yes, the supercollider people… Iris knows how to make Paris Fashion Week go outer space!