Overview

The Brooklyn Museum presents “Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses,” the North American debut of a major exhibition celebrating one of the most innovative fashion designers of the 21st century, running May 16 through December 6, 2026 on the fifth floor of the museum’s Morris A. and Meyer Schapiro Wing and Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Gallery. It is the first major New York presentation of Van Herpen’s work.

Debuting in 2023 at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the exhibition has since traveled to Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, Singapore’s ArtScience Museum, and Kunsthal Rotterdam before arriving at Brooklyn. The Brooklyn presentation is organized by Matthew Yokobosky, Senior Curator of Fashion and Material Culture, with Imani Williford, Curatorial Assistant. It is supported by the Simons Foundation as part of its “Infinite Sums” initiative.

Focus

More than 140 extraordinary haute couture creations are shown alongside contemporary artworks and designs, as well as scientific artifacts and natural history specimens such as coral, fossils, and skeletons. Rare archival materials and a soundscape by composer Salvador Breed add to this interdisciplinary, multisensory experience.

The exhibition situates Van Herpen in a cross-disciplinary framework that bridges couture with scientific exploration and contemporary art. Her work draws on disciplines as varied as mathematics, neuroscience, marine biology, paleontology, mycology, mineralogy, and astronomy. The exhibition does not proceed chronologically but foregrounds Van Herpen’s ongoing exploration of innovation, her collaborations with scientists, engineers, and artists, and her integration of traditional couture technique with new technologies.

Taking visitors from the depths of the ocean to the outer reaches of the universe, Sculpting the Senses illuminates the core questions of Van Herpen’s practice — about the body in space, its relationship to fashion and the environment, and its future in a rapidly changing world. The exhibition also includes an evocation of Van Herpen’s atelier, offering visitors direct engagement with the handcraftsmanship and tactile nature of haute couture creation.

This exhibition is not about looking back, but about encountering fashion as a living, evolving discipline.
Matthew Yokobosky, Senior Curator of Fashion and Material Culture, Brooklyn Museum

Exhibition Themes

Artists and Designers in the Exhibition

About Iris van Herpen

Since founding her Maison in 2007, Van Herpen has continuously woven together traditional craftsmanship with groundbreaking technology and radical innovation, pushing the boundaries of materiality, silhouette, and movement. Her work forms a sensory language where nature, art, and science converge, transforming the body through design. Her work is held in major museum collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Palais de Tokyo. Her designs have been worn by Beyoncé, Björk, Cate Blanchett, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, and Ariana Grande.

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Audience

The exhibition is open to the general public at the Brooklyn Museum with timed tickets. Its subject, ranging from material innovation and biological structures to cosmology and sound, gives it reach well beyond a fashion audience into architecture, design, science, and art. Its nearly seven-month run from mid-May through early December 2026 makes it one of the most extended fashion exhibitions in New York this year.

Event Details