Within the framework of Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week Fall-Winter 2026, Iris van Herpen takes the audience into a space where fashion and science intersect. The catwalk at Élysée Montmartre was covered with mist from dry ice, combined with lighting design to create the feeling of being in front of an unexplained natural phenomenon. But what makes the collection a highlight lies in how the designer continues to expand the borders of Haute Couture through the conquest of materials.
This season, Iris van Herpen chooses plasma and lightning as creative materials. Plasma is the fourth state of matter, besides solid, liquid and gas, and is also the component that creates the aurora phenomenon. In one striking design, she applied plasma to crescent-shaped glass tubes extending from the shoulders of a silk tulle dress, the surface covered with glass bubbles blown entirely by hand. As the model moves, the plasma reacts with the body’s magnetic field, glowing and creating small electric sparks that run along the glass tube.
To complete the collection, the atelier crafted approximately 30,000 glass spheres, a number that shows the scale of craftsmanship behind each design. If the plasma dress represents the combination of fashion and physics, the strapless mini dress inspired by lightning pushes the fashion boundaries even further. The design is created from heat-annealed PMMA, a transparent polymer often considered organic glass, using particle accelerator technology. Once completed, the dress must be transported in a refrigerated container maintained at minus 100°C to preserve the material structure.
This process creates Lichtenberg patterns with fern-shaped stratified branches that appear when high-intensity electric current passes through the insulating material. It was those lines that became the starting point for Iris van Herpen’s train of thought. After opening the storage container, she realized the same branching structure repeated in tree root systems, river networks or human circulatory systems.
That idea became even clearer when the creative process took place at the time the Netherlands experienced many strong thunderstorms. Iris van Herpen said that the flash of lightning, the sound of thunder, and the smell of the air after the rain reminded her directly of the moment the dress was removed from the particle accelerator. Thus, both plasma and lightning designs are more museum pieces than market-oriented products, made to test the limits of Haute Couture and expand the expressive possibilities of fashion.
Between scientific experiments, Iris van Herpen continues to develop the design style that has become associated with her name. The collection features structures made from Japanese air fabrics fixed with a wire frame to create a floating feeling, printed silk dresses or chiffon with silver highlights that move with each step, and the return of the bubble dress design. This shape was worn by freestyle skier Eileen Gu at the Met Gala in May and quickly became one of the fashion house’s most talked about designs.
While many recent fashion brands seek inspiration from nature, Iris van Herpen expands her scope of observation beyond Earth. She turns her attention to plasma, stars and cosmic phenomena that remain beyond the full explanation of science. For her, Haute Couture is a means to interact with the world around her. By combining the process of scientific research with the art of craftsmanship, the collection reminds fans that humans still only understand a very small part of the invisible forces that operate nature and the universe.
Lesson: Hoang Bao – Fashion Columnist
