, all of whom have worn her custom-made dresses on the world’s biggest red carpets. We had the chance to speak with van Herpen in Paris after her anniversary show, “Meta Morphism,” this past July.“I really wanted to express everything the brand has been doing so far without looking backwards, because my work has always been about innovation and the future combined with craftsmanship.
“I think it’s in my nature. Craftsmanship—the knowledge of the haute couture techniques—is the backbone of the atelier, and I need to innovate to make it feel relevant today. My focus within the collection is always to transform the body and create a reality in the movement with the garment. If I were to focus purely on traditional craftsmanship, I would not be able to achieve the fashion-forward materiality of the looks. The transformation is only possible if I fuse the two.
“Yes, we’ve done some really beautiful collaborations this time. We’ve done a lot of 3-D printing in the past [to create materials], but this is the first time we were able to innovate in terms of [creating] sustainable materials. One that I really like is [made from] the banana leaf; it’s a very beautiful silklike shiny light material that still has a stiffness as it is organic, and it has a draping that I have never done before.