On January 21st, 2019, Iris van Herpen presented her latest Haute Couture collection, titled Shift Souls at Palais des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

The collection was inspired by early examples of celestial cartography and its representations of mythological and astrological chimera, Van Herpen was particularly taken with «Harmonia Macrocosmica,» a star atlas by the German-Dutch cartographer Andreas Cellarius, published in 1600.

With the advances in DNA engineering and the first successful creations of human/anima hybrids called Cybrids, the mythological dreams of Humankind since the dawn of civilization are shifting to the canvas of science. While the scientific and ethical implications of Cybrids are still unclear, this collection expresses the fact that this reality is upon us.

«For Shift Souls I looked at the evolution of the human shape, its idealization through time and the hybridization of the female forms within mythology. Specially the imagination and the fluidity within identity change in Japanese mythology gave me the inspiration to explore the deeper meaning of identity and how immaterial and mutable it can become within the current coalescence of our digital bodies” — Iris van Herpen

Runway video by Blitzkickers

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CREDITS
Press: Nicolas Delarue | Karla Otto
Styling: Patti Wilson
Casting: Maida Gregori Boina | Maxime Valentini | Caroline Mauger
Collaborating Artists:
Kim Keever
Nick Verstand
Philip Beesley
Mask Collaboration: Zjenja Doubrovski