I am not a fashionista and I gave up on flicking through Vogue many years ago. The models, their sultry looks and their clothes bore no connection to my reality. So I went to the Iris Van Herpen Exhibition at QAGOMA with curiosity above all as a fashion designer was an unusual choice for an art gallery.

However I quickly saw where the two worlds met and the creative genius in her. She is a remarkable designer and artist who takes her inspiration from the sea world, plankton, anemones, ammonites, fauna and flora, bees and trees, the body and space, not forgetting her many references to history and science, including the Hadron Collider in Cern! The projections on the gallery walls display those connections very clearly and you can see how they are translated into these elaborate, painstakingly complicated creations, with a 3- D printer, paper, recycled materials, polymers, glass and an impressive otherness of sources and materials. This expansive and exclusive exhibition moves through the stages of her growth and development as well as creative genius and there are many moments which elicit wonder and admiration. Here is the link for anyone who is interested.

https://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/exhibition/iris-van-herpen-sculpting-the-senses

Her gowns are worn by famous women. Gill and I enjoyed watching the fashion parades, from the strange platform shoes, to the head decorations, as it showed some of the gowns on display worn by the stunning models. Questions abounded. How do they move, sit down, do they have zips ??

Gill and I were almost Irised out when we realised there was one more gallery and we stopped to ask the gallery attendant questions that had arisen in our head. How did the dresses come to Oz? Were they packed flat ? Did they dress the models here? Yes, they came and were dressed here and the curation of the exhibition took weeks. You can see why. We expressed our admiration when he said ” Wait till you see this room” One dress is composed of umbrella spikes. I laughed and said “Just imagine going to Woolies with that on”.To which he replied “Perhaps at the weekend!”

It is the weekend and I am heading to Woolies. I suspect she would be underwhelmed by my choice of sartorial elegance but we can definitely say she did not disappoint.