Fashion Icon, Iris Van Herpen, herself, at Career’s Retrospective in BK Museum

The master at work. Iris Van Herpen, the Dutch couturier whose work defies gravity and logic, isn't just showing her work at the Brooklyn Museum—she's sitting down, threading fabric, and making something new as part of the exhibit that hundreds of New Yorkers are raving about. 

The fashion designer, her inspo, her creations and her materials, all intertwined through a bast exhibit. Photos and video by Ximena Del Cerro

The museum's retrospective— Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses — brings together over 140 haute couture gowns alongside contemporary art, scientific artifacts, and immersive installations that guide the narrative of the designer’s inspo. 

The garments show how Van Herpen is drawn to the most unexpected elements in nature when making a piece, including deep-sea microscopic life, fungi and tarantula webs, as well as outer space and the optical illusion created by waterfalls. 

At the heart of the exhibition is a space called the Atelier — the fourth of 11 themed rooms —where the designer is working on a never-before-seen piece.

Iris Van Herpen, sitting at the Atelier room of the Brooklyn Museum exhibit, working on a brand new design.

Visitors can touch Van Herpen’s unique fabric samples and examine the materials that drive the designer’s process. It's the kind of access that feels less like a museum visit and more like stepping into someone's mind while they're still working. 

The show runs through December 6.