Story & heritage

The official Hybrid Holism materials trace the collection back to Philip Beesley's Hylozoic Ground, an environment that imagines architecture as something alive. Van Herpen derives the title from hylozoism — the belief that matter itself possesses life — turning the runway into a study of responsive surfaces and synthetic organisms.

Hybrid Holism is also one of the lines most closely associated with van Herpen's early 2010s leap from experimental promise to recognisable authorial language: sculptural, technical, and still unmistakably couture.

Materials & craft

Official credits for the collection list 3D printing by Materialise, and the garments wear that collaboration openly: latticed shells, rib-like openwork, and molded volumes sit close to the body like a living carapace. The construction balances hard-edged printed structure with hand-finished couture fit so the silhouettes remain dramatic without collapsing into costume.

How to choose & style

Hybrid Holism reads strongest with severe restraint around it. Monochrome accessories, controlled posture, and bare arms or neckline space let the architectural shell do the talking.