Iris van Herpen presented her latest Fall Winter 2014/15 collection at the last day of Paris Fashion Week. She went one step further by vacuum-packed the model and it was perfectly packaged. Van Herpen presented an unsettling tableau about the human genome— 30 percent of which is already patented — with three models wriggling about like tadpoles as the air was slowly sucked out of the large plastic bags they were suspended in.

Proposed in the context of her show, the silhouettes seemed alien, sharp edges protruding along the lines of the body, curling around the hem in organic geometries. Sleeves connected, web-like, to the body. Upon closer inspection, the fabrics revealed themselves to be of this Earth and time: goatskin with foil that resembles stingray, cut and assembled into raised strips under which were inserted small crystals that held the shape in place; Japanese changeant silk with a shimmering weft giving definition to the spider-web thin material; crystals inlaid in fabric and covered in webbing. A voluminous fur body extended down from an intricately detailed collar and shoulder.