Hacking Infinity

Iris Van Herpen collaboration

Paris, France - 2015

Hacking Infinity continues the longstanding collaboration between Iris Van Herpen’s haute couture collections and Philip Beesley’s immersive near-living sculptures. Their combined work debuted as part of Van Herpen’s Fall-Winter 2015-16 collection on March 10th, 2015 at the Palais de Tokyo for Paris Fashion Week. Critics widely acclaimed the “black garden of fractal like geometries”. Hovering, halo-like meshwork fabrics imply new auras that extend the boundaries of human bodies. The elemental components and assemblies extended Hacking Infinity’s poetic exploration of the concept terraforming; the creation of synthetic terrains, even new planetary surfaces.

Hacking Infinity further explores the use of light, resilient hybrid fabrics previously developed by Beesley for Van Herpen’s collections Magnetic Motion (Spring-Summer 2015), Wilderness Embodied (Fall-Winter 2013-14) and Voltage (Summer 2013). In Hacking Infinity, Beesley’s studio developed novel methods of thermally forming laser-cut acrylic sheets to make extremely lightweight, foam-like meshworks. By combining these innovative forms with other materials including polyurethane, silicones, leather, and crystal, striking new bodily qualities such as flexibility, dynamism and interaction were achieved. Through the processes of three-dimensional fused deposition printing, injection molding, vacuum forming and laser-cutting, three-dimensional acrylic membranes transformed into malleable geometries of chevrons and meshwork textiles. These new fabrics form a bridge between haute-couture and ready-to-wear production, opening new industrial possibilities for transformed clothing.