In a world increasingly fragmented by artificial boundaries—between human and nature, body and technology, self and other—Iris van Herpen’s Sympoiesis moves in the opposite direction. It whispers of interdependence. It weaves connection into couture. The Dutch designer, long known for her ability to transform high fashion into kinetic sculpture, returns here with a visual language that dissolves borders between beings and builds garments that seem to breathe alongside the universe.

At first glance, the collection is nothing short of otherworldly. Each look is suspended in motion, a hybrid of anatomy, aquatic life, alien terrain, and algorithmic possibility. But beneath the surface aesthetics lies a profound philosophy. 

Why Sympoiesis? 

The term Sympoiesis—derived from Donna Haraway’s posthumanist writings—translates to "making-with." It’s about systems that cannot exist independently. Every piece in this collection echoes that ethos, not just as a garment but as a living, moving organism created in collaboration—with the body, with science, and with the natural world.

Couture As Living Architecture

Look closer at the pieces, and they seem to emerge from the wearer’s form like a natural extension rather than a constructed addition. Panels of translucent mesh interlace with bone-white structures reminiscent of coral reefs, sea creatures, and microscopic cells. 

These designs are not worn so much as they grow out of the skin, reflecting van Herpen’s exploration of biomimicry—the design practice of drawing inspiration from nature’s systems and processes.

One gown unfurls like a jellyfish caught mid-pulse, its tendrils floating in suspended animation. Another cradles the body in twisting, almost serpentine strands of resin that look like they’ve been 3D-printed by water itself.

Van Herpen collaborates with scientists and engineers to manifest these effects—melding couture with algorithmic modeling, laser cutting, and hand-finishing so seamlessly that the techniques disappear behind the poetry of the result.

This is not wearable fashion in the traditional sense. It's fashion phenomenon—a gesture, an ecosystem, a question. What happens when we stop designing for the body and start designing with it?

Transparency, Transformation, and the Space Between

Many of the looks in Sympoiesis play with transparency—not as a trend but as a narrative device. Gossamer fabrics are stretched over skeletal frameworks, suggesting the skin of a chrysalis. Some pieces appear to dissolve at the edges, as if caught mid-transition from one state to another. There’s a tension here between structure and ephemerality, much like the moment just before a metamorphosis.

It’s also van Herpen’s most deeply sensual collection in years. Despite its cerebral origin, there's something primal about how the garments cling, cocoon, and extend from the body. The interplay of flesh and form isn’t about control or concealment. It’s about exposure, vulnerability, and becoming.

What’s most moving is how van Herpen handles absence. Negative space is not an afterthought in these designs—it’s a material. Voids appear where sleeves would be, where fabric should fall. These absences are intentional, symbolic. They allow light in. They allow the viewer to see through the garment, and by extension, to see the body not as a static object but as part of a greater biological and cosmic process.

Fashion As Symbiosis

Sympoiesis doesn’t just reference biological forms—it participates in their logic. Van Herpen reminds us that our bodies are not isolated shells but ecosystems in constant dialogue with the world. In an age of climate anxiety and digital overstimulation, this message is both radical and restorative. Her couture suggests that true innovation doesn’t come from imposing design on the world—but from listening, observing, and collaborating with it.

Even the palette supports this symbiotic vision. From bone and blush to deep-sea hues and iridescent finishes, the collection avoids hard lines or singular tones. Everything is gradient, fluid, shifting. Color is used not to dominate but to echo the subtleties of nature—how light moves through water, how shadows ripple through translucent skin.

A Vision Beyond the Runway

Van Herpen’s work often sits at the intersection of art, science, and philosophy, and Sympoiesis feels like the culmination of that triptych. It’s not a rejection of fashion’s traditions but a radical reimagining of its future. Where others chase the new for the sake of spectacle, van Herpen asks deeper questions: What does it mean to be alive? What does it mean to share space with other beings? What can we create when we stop pretending we’re alone?

Image Courtesy - Iris van Herpen