Story & heritage

The official Iris van Herpen news post and Muses page both identify Hailee Steinfeld's 2021 Met Gala look as the made-to-measure Magnetosphere dress. It arrived as a red-carpet condensation of the maison's oceanic and biomorphic ideas: recognisably van Herpen from across the room, but still intimate in detail.

Reliable exhibition coverage from QAGOMA notes that the Magnetosphere dress took over 640 hours to complete, giving the piece a second life as a museum-level example of how van Herpen's couture spectacle rests on long, obsessive making rather than mere visual shock.

Materials & craft

QAGOMA's exhibition text describes the dress as built from multiple layers of laser-cut lace made from upcycled ocean plastic and coastal debris, fluidly encircling the bodice. Vanity Fair's 2021 coverage likewise situates the piece as a vortex-like construction in recycled ocean material, making sustainability part of the garment's technical identity rather than a footnote.

How to choose & style

Magnetosphere is already an event, so the styling logic is to keep the body clean and the glam futuristic rather than ornate. The open negative spaces do the work that jewelry usually would.