Iris van Herpen - Transmotion

Created for Paris Haute Couture Week 2020, Transmotion was conceived as both a film and a couture artwork, featuring actress Carice van Houten in collaboration with Iris van Herpen. Released during a moment of global uncertainty and isolation, the project explored themes of growth, transformation, and regeneration through a single extraordinary couture creation.

The film centers around the Transmotion dress, a sculptural composition of pleated white silk organza, branching black satin structures, and delicate crystalline elements inspired by seeds, root systems, and organic growth. Drawing influence from the perception-shifting work of Dutch artist M. C. Escher, the project questions notions of up and down, positive and negative, fragility and strength, inviting the viewer into a world where transformation is constant and perspective is fluid.

Featuring Carice van Houten as both muse and collaborator, the film became a celebration of Dutch creativity, bringing together fashion, cinema, art, and sound in a distinctly atmospheric visual language. The project was presented as Iris van Herpen's digital Haute Couture offering for the season and was widely featured by international fashion publications including Vogue and SHOWstudio.

For me, Transmotion remains a particularly meaningful collaboration—an opportunity to create a cinematic portrait of one of Iris van Herpen's most poetic couture works while working alongside one of the Netherlands' most celebrated actresses.