DION LEE SPRING SUMMER 2023 RUNWAY

Iris van Herpen ~ Meta Morphism

At Paris Haute Couture Week 2022, Iris van Herpen celebrates the fifteenth anniversary of the Maison with ‘Meta Morphism’. Holding a lens to our intangible identities and shifting society with the metaverse and hyperreality at the horizon, this collection explores the depths of the body in posthuman realities. With the new realms of our digital lives expanding, we are faced with an eternally rhetorical question: who are we beyond our physical bodies? Is the digital you shaping your pre-existing com- pass? Through 'Meta Morphism’, Van Herpen expresses the body as an elusive system, rooted in transcience and speaks to a greater message of introspection. The leitmotif of van Herpen’s history expresses the body in a state of permanent flux, metamorphosing with the milieu, and while the Maison is regarded for its futuristic approach, this season the designer reflects on Ovid's magnus opus poem ‘Metamorphoses’. At the time of Ovid’s writing, the act of metamorphosis was appreciated in relation to humanity and its place amongst nature, yet Ovid’s retelling exists a relevance today, navigating the ramifications of technology that is constantly complicating the definition of identity. With the ability to recreate our digi- tal twins, the space of soul-searching, losing a sense of self, and finding new realities, are life lessons. The collection examines the ancient visions of Ovid’s mythology through modern themes of transhumanism, where man and technology ex- ist in eternal fluctuation, thus defying classification, allowing us to question the limits of our self. Resounding the thematic tensions between artifice and nature, the collection is built around three myths, the story of Arachne; the story of Narcissus and finally the story of Daphne and Apollo. The tragedy of Arachne is translated in fine laces that are gradient dyed and trapped in embroidered webs, causing the trapped spiderwebs to float. Other looks are designed as if Arachne is still weaving them, hundreds of unspun threads float and spin around the body. The second myth behind the collection evinces the story of Narcissus, who falls in love with his own reflection, slowly languishing to death through self-obsession. The translucent layering and reflective textures of growth in this collection speak to a greater message of introspection. Transparent voluminous drapes echo around the body like ghosts, creating patchworks of shadows, designed to turn inwards on ourselves. Accents of dark blues and amethysts, ochres, metallic silvers and copper intersect the lucid palette. The ‘Narcissus’ gown and coat express the power of self-creation and the contradiction of how self-obsession can ultimatrly cause loos- ing your sense of self. The allusion to Daphne and Apollo is betokened through the finale look, embodying the very moment that Daphne transforms into a laurel tree, while the 'Glitched Growth' dress and other looks mimic the alternate stages of Daphne’s metamorphoses, diffusing the creation of plant and bone structures growing together. These looks are designed around body objectification and imagine future metaverse hybrids of Daphne’s myth in which the body is boundlessly transformed and where man and nature are indistinguishable. In keeping with the Maison’s collaborative spirit, this season, Iris van Herpen partners with sculptor Casey Curran, bequething a prospective statue of a future Daphne, bursting from the centre of the runway. Daphne’s sculpture transforms through herbose creatures blooming from her skeleton, at her chest appears a large crevice, revealing her mechanical heart pulsating inside, pertaining to the notion that the elusiveness of identity means that nothing can perish. Videography: 4eyes, Dammes Kieft Press Release: Scarlett Baker Show production: Eyesight | Popkraft Light design: Thierry Dreyfus | Eyesight Choreography: Diek Pothoven Sound Director: Salvador Breed Sound Composition: Johnny Paradiso Harpist: Hannah Koegler Face Jewellery: Benas Staskauskas Head Pieces: Lance Victor Moore

KOCHÉ FW22 FULL SHOW

Hairstylist: @jawaraw Makeup artist: @cecileparavina Casting: @ch.a.z @chouaibarif_casting Lights:@eyesightgroup Nails: @kurebazaar Music: @aamourocean @iam.anyoneID Vidéos: @vlam_productions Drone @cedronaline Sunglasses: @gentlemonster @marclebihan Harnesses: @zanabayne Gold harnesses: @uncuffedleather Corset: @pritchlondon Jewellery: @slimbarrett Gloves: @paularowangloves Maison Lemarié @maison_lemarie

DION LEE FALL 2022 RUNWAY

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Hair @jawaraw Makeup @cecileparavina Consultant @antoinejosephpaoli

Iris van Herpen ~ Earthrise

Iris van Herpen shows her latest collection ‘Earthrise’ during Paris Haute Couture Week on July, 5th 2021. ~ With our planet positioned at the forefront of the global agenda more than ever before, ‘Earthrise’ explores the splendour of this blue body we call home by circling towards the amalgamated awareness to maintain the grandeur of the turning sphere we traverse along. In parallel to Van Herpen’s drive towards an interconnected approach to fashion, the 19 look collection narrates the circular processes that usher change in our sentient world by weaving a symbiotic thread between artisanal tailoring and organic craftsmanship, derived from the perception of our world as one living and breathing organism. With the turn of the last century came the launch of Apollo 8, the first-ever crewed spacecraft to leave Earth’s orbit and witness the Earthrise from the Moon’s horizon. Astronauts looked over our revolving sphere from afar, to see a boundless, indescribable space; a living, breathing organism, unmarred by conflict, borders as well as hierarchies and all of the entrenched partisans that make up the minutiae of our quotidian lives. Against the darkness of the inky black vastness of space, they experienced an emotional shift: a cosmic perspective of oneness. Contemplated as a metamorphic realisation, the expedition went beyond scientific headway, remaining a pivotal moment in our evolution as sensitive sapiens. ‘Earthrise’ symbolises this shift of an anthropocentric perspective — our discernment of time has never felt so spectral. Tasked to feel, rather than to count, this novel ethos was framed as ‘Earth-gazing,' to observe the intricacies of this cosmic view and the magnificence of our surrounding mythosphere. To challenge the immensity of space that surrounds our tellurian haven, Iris van Herpen, enraptured by the seductive ancient human dream to fly out into the stratosphere of the unfamiliar, collaborates with the female world-champion skydiver Domitille Kiger. Capering through the expansive skies, from the age of 15, the designer grew fascinated by the choreographed performance of her craft, fusing two diametrical opposed worlds of artistry and science. Through Kiger’s graceful sky-dancing, she embodies a new meaning of earthly freedom, thwarting any fear with the spirit of transcendence. Through the extreme speed and Kiger's choreography, while sky-dancing, the custom Haute Couture gown reveals the turbulence of the intricate handwork. Made from thousands of blue spheres in colour gradients, embodying our 'blue marble’ home, the gown spins off in dazzling twists in an array of directions simultaneously.

Duran Lantink springsummerautumnwinter 21

Drones swoop in on  he 17th-century Dutch royal Soestdijk Palace for Duran Lantink's inaugural runway show.