Created for Iris van Herpen and Dutch National Ballet

Biomimicry is a short film exploring the relationship between fashion, dance, and the natural world. Created in collaboration with Dutch National Ballet, the film features dancer Jingjing Mao bringing a selection of Iris van Herpen designs into motion, transforming couture into a living, ever-changing form.

Drawing from the idea of biomimicry — learning from nature’s forms, rhythms, and processes — the film explores the symbiotic relationship between body, garment, and movement. Flowing organza, translucent hand-cast structures, choreography, and cinematic imagery merge into a continuous metamorphosis, dissolving the boundaries between dancer and design.

Developed together with movement director Juanjo Arqués and featuring an original score by Thijs de Vlieger and Lavinia Meijer, the project brought together artists from fashion, ballet, film, and music in a multidisciplinary collaboration. Hair was created by Daan Kneppers, make-up by Suzanne Verberk, and cinematography by Viktor Horstink.

The film has since become one of the works featured prominently within Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses, the major travelling retrospective that premiered in Paris before moving through Australia, Singapore, Rotterdam, and now the Brooklyn Museum in New York.