While some designers might take the occasion of their Fifteenth-anniversary collection for a nostalgic look back over time, taking stock of what’s happened and revisiting old favourites, Iris Van Herpen took the other approach. With a watch firmly on the longer term, the Dutch designer looked forward for Meta Morphism, her latest boundary-pushing couture collection.

As recent realms of the metaverse and hyperreality evolve around us, the FW22 Couture show explored how the body will change in these posthuman realities, asking who we’re beyond our physicality. Taking Ovid’s epic eighth-century poem Metamorphoses as her framing lens – specifically the three myths of Arachne, Narcissus, and Daphne and Apollo – van Herpen reimagined the act of metamorphosis within the age of digital technology and transhumanism. 

Sartorially, this translated as tremendous laces trapped in embroidered webs and tons of of unspun threads floating across the body, as if Arachne was weaving them herself. Translucent layering and reflective textures recalled Narcissus languishing in front of his own reflection, while the finale look embodied the moment Daphne transforms right into a laurel tree, the body and nature at one.

When it got here to the wonder looks, models were transformed into mythological creatures from a celestial lagoon. Aquatic fin-like hairstyles created from braids got here down across the face after which up into organic forms around the pinnacle for a glance straight out of Atlantis. These intricate braided sculptures got here courtesy of Olivier Schawalder and Björn Axén, the Swedish salon that has been a longtime design collaborator with van Herpen. 

Make-up, meanwhile, by Chiao Li Hsu saw gold and silver leaf placed across the eyes of the models, a few of whom were also given a bleached brow to finish the ethereal look. The remainder of the face was kept dewy and natural, save for a choice of models who also wore delicate translucent sculptures across their faces. On nails, Tomoya Nakagawa created transhumanistic manicures that appeared to glow like jellyfish submerged beneath the waves. 

See the gallery above for the total looks.