United Nude collaborates with Iris Van Herpen for shoes completing her collection for its 9th consecutive time. Nevertheless, this is the first time that two instead of just one design graced the runway, in the form of the Biopiracy Boot and the Biopiracy peeptoe ankle Bootie, both on staggering 7 inch tall platform cantilevered heels.
The Biopiracy collection by Iris Van Herpen emerged from astonishment of companies’ patented human genes. As part of the show, Lawrence Malstaf created art installations, which developed the impression of models being weightless and breathless. In their half-sleep, they seem bio-hacked, to slow down time and energy. Iris van Herpen and Lawrence Malstaf experiment with living objects, kinetic architecture and physical interaction through fashion in installation art. A 3D printing collaboration with Julia Koerner and Materialise fuses the artisanal with the technical to create a kinetic dress which dances as it amplifies bodily movement.
The Iris Van Herpen × United Nude Boot overrules the natural shape of the foot; this makes the graphically leather molded boots futuristic sculptures extending the legs with a new silhouette into motion. Iris Van Herpen and United Nude is a match made in heaven from day one, as they are both not afraid of breaking boundaries by experimentation with design and technology.
Rem D Koolhaas: “Working with Iris Van Herpen is each time a big challenge for us, as she pushes boundaries with ideas for things that have never been done before. Collaboration partners like Iris Van Herpen and Zaha Hadid give us way for our continuation in re-inventing shoes.”
Images courtesy of United Nude