The Fractal Universe Gown

In collaboration with Lichtenberg specialist Dale Sulak, Iris van Herpen presents the Fractal Universe gown, a look that explores the threshold between body and atmosphere, matter and energy.

Annealed crystal-clear synthetic polymer is casted inside a 3D printed mold. The casted forms are then charged inside a particle accelerator and cryogenically preserved. It then becomes a metastable reservoir of energy, containing billions of trapped electrons that generate an intense electric field held within its structure. On the runway the dress is gradually discharged through the touch of the model. With each gesture, new fractal constellations through flashes of lightning spread across the dress.

The rapid energy release vaporizes and fractures thin hollow micro-channels along its path inside the dress in three dimensions at a substantial fraction of the speed of light. These brilliant channels of light we see are temporary columns of plasma - the same state of matter found in lightning, stars, nebulae, the solar wind, and much of the visible universe. In that sense, every Lichtenberg figure is a small terrestrial trace of processes that also occur on cosmic scales. The look culminates in a sculptural headpiece, hand-embroidered with delicate silver lightning tracings that drift across a dramatic veil above an underdress of black velvet.

“Around us, and within us, vast dimensions of reality remain undiscovered. From lightning to the charged environments of particle accelerators, this collection gives form to forces that rarely reveal themselves. I do not seek to explain them; instead, they heighten our awareness of the unknown, reminding us of the mysteries that lie within this multiverse.”
~ Iris van Herpen