Iris van Herpen: Sonic Starquakes for F/W 26-27 | Paris Haute Couture Week

Enter the realm where cosmic energy becomes couture – explore the Iris van Herpen “Sonic Starquakes” collection on FashionTV!

Unveiled at Paris Haute Couture Week on July 6th, 2026, Iris van Herpen’s latest collection, Sonic Starquakes, pushes fashion beyond the boundary of physical matter. Inspired by the acoustic vibrations of stars, the fluid turbulence of plasma, and the historic voice-visualization experiments of Victorian inventor Margaret Watts Hughes, van Herpen translates cosmic forces into groundbreaking garment design.

By exploring plasma – the fourth state of matter that makes up over 99% of the visible universe – the collection merges human electromagnetism with the celestial, offering a radical vision where the human body becomes a living conductor of elemental light. The collection features visionary achievements in craftsmanship, most notably the Helix Nebula dress.

Composed of hand-blown glass forms infused with touch-responsive plasma and over 10,000 glass spheres attached with UV light, the gown interacts directly with the wearer’s electrical field, blending body and dress into a single electromagnetic system. Equally dramatic is the Fractal Universe look, which was charged inside a particle accelerator and cryogenically preserved prior to the show.

The garment autonomously completed its design when trapped electrons generated self-etching lightning channels across its surface, allowing universal forces, rather than human hands, to execute its final, magnificent transformation. Across the broader collection, silhouettes continuously dissolve and reshape through a rich palette of midnight black, sapphire, moonstone green, and nebula red.

Laser-cut velvets, carbon-fiber boning, and more than 30,000 iridescent hand-blown glass spheres are suspended on illusion tulle, scattering light like stellar dust.

By harmonizing ancient cosmic philosophies with the frontier of particle physics, Sonic Starquakes presents the human form not as a static entity, but as a dynamic intersection of cellular and planetary energy.

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