Avantgarde à la Holland. Designer Iris van Herpen wins the Dutch Fashion Award 2010 and invitation to Fashion Week Berlin

The Netherlands is not only famed for exceptional cheese. Once again, the Dutch Fashion awards prove that the little country in the middle of Europe can easily hold the top spot of the avant garde. The winner, Iris van Herpen presents a collection, which definitely deserves to be called 'exceptional', especially when it comes to the sophistication of form and power of expression.

Iris van Herpen makes leather flow. She has the gift of deriving materials of their natural attributes and turning them into something light, fragile and incredibly morbid. She belongs to the British top ten of upcoming fashion designers and her designs are featured in Surface, L'Officiel or Elle.

She finished graduated from ARTEZ Academy Arnheim in 2006 and has been showing her collections at Amsterdam Fashion week ever since. She managed to gather vital experience when she worked on shows by Alexander McQueen and Viktor & Rolf in Paris.

Now, Iris herself is the centre of attention. The Dutch Fashion Award 2010 granted her 25,000 Euro prize money, an invitation to the Mercedes-Benz Fashion week in Berlin and the Dutch Fashion Accessory Award by Sasha Shoes, which will enable her to design her own footwear collection.

We have attached images from the awards ceremony – at a location not to be sniffed at – as well as pictures of her A/W collection 2010, which saw her collaborate with footwear label United Nude and design an ankle boot which is available as a limited edition from United Nude Flagship-Stores.


www.irisvanherpen.com