British Fashion Awards: Iris Van Herpen Creates for Maria Sharapova a magical dress overcrowded<

Number: Working with non-textile materials, such as plastic used in 3D printing, carved wood or acrylic sheets, is one of your specialties. here, you used over 800 Evian plastic bottles to create a dress that took 750 hours to create. How was this project different from other more experimental creations, such as the five dresses you created in February with the organization Parley for the Oceans, made entirely from marine litter?

Iris Van Herpen: The big challenge of this new collaboration was to create an upcycled plastic fabric in haute couture quality. Today, there is a lot of innovation in this sector and I wanted to bring the highest quality possible to show how far it was possible to go with upcycling. And the possibilities are endless! We worked from Amsterdam with Evian, France, and a weaver in Italy. Evian bottles were transformed into grains, then into threads as fine as hair, almost invisible and completely transparent. These threads represent 78% of our final fabric, the rest being an organic silk, which gives a very interesting drape. Of course, the Evian fiber offers a very different drape than silk. We called it “liquid fabric” for its almost aquatic sheen. When we talk about upcycling, many imagine rather simple clothes and materials. This is why the challenge here was, on the contrary, to imagine a real haute couture piece that would stand out for its quality and complexity.

As a matter of fact, yes, I did learn how to do my Blue Steel from studying New Kids on the Block Posters. https://t.co/98RvlBk01G

— Jessica Chastain Fri Jan 24 17:49:49 +0000 2020

Water is a recurring element in your visual universe. How did meeting Evian inspire you?

I am very attracted to materials that I cannot work with, and water is one of them. But if I can't integrate it directly into my creations, I can at least translate the beauty of its fluidity, and its movement on the body, which intrigue me a lot, especially because of my past as a dancer. Water has this incredible potential for transformation that fascinates me, whether it is in the state of crystal or cloud. I find it very beautiful that Evian water travels fifteen years in the meanders of the Earth before reaching us. It reminds me of my own journey, since my label will celebrate its fifteenth anniversary next year. I too felt this very organic journey, close to that of nature. This has become fundamental in my way of creating. Circularity, materials... the idea of ​​sustainability has become a priority in all stages of our creative process, and Evian is also part of this movement towards a more sustainable world. Part of our sustainability work focuses on creating biodegradable fabrics through upcycling. Also, as a high fashion label, we only produce to order and there is never overproduction. All of our scrap materials are sent to a company that recycles them. We also work with a foundation to protect the Amazon rainforest and the organization One Tree Planted, with which we reinvest in nature for every outfit we create. We always continue to learn and improve on these issues.