Met Gala: Iris van Herpen's 'Airo' bubble dress captures attention

Amsterdam - At the Met Gala, where 42 million dollars were raised for the Costume Institute last night, ten million more than last year, attention is also a prize. During the 76th edition, designer Iris van Herpen and artist duo A.A. Murakami emerged as winners. In New York, they unveiled the 'Airo Dress' worn by muse and athlete Eileen Gu, one of the guests at the fashion ball. The freestyle skier made history during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics by winning three medals. In February, she repeated the feat at the Milan Cortina games.

15,000 bubbles

The 15,000 iridescent glass bubbles that make up the dress were first hand-moulded and then attached to the bodice with UV light. The creation required 2,550 hours of work over a period of 15 weeks by a team of specialists in couture, science and computational design.

During the evening on the red carpet, fresh bubbles also emerged from under the dress. These were powered by microprocessors hidden beneath the skirt, which pressurise the gas and release the bubbles silently. This system is the work of A.A. Murakami, the duo of Alexander Groves and Azusa Murakami, who work between London and Japan with ephemeral materials like steam and light. For the first time, they have applied their knowledge to a wearable garment.

Fashion is art

The dress fitted the gala's theme, 'Fashion is Art'. For the Costume Institute, as was evident from the outfits on the red carpet last night, this theme is primarily about the body. It explores the body as it is, or as it could be, by emphasising or distorting certain parts. The cloud-like effect of the bubbles blurred the defined lines of Gu's athletic body, giving her a mystical aura. She almost seemed to vanish into space.

"The bubbles reflect the anatomy of the human body, which is composed of 99.9 percent empty space, and show the nature of the body as a dynamic field of matter and energy," said Van Herpen herself.

Biocouture

The Wamel-based couturier is now known as a pioneer who constantly fuses fashion with innovative technologies and natural principles. For her previous viral creation, a luminous dress made of living algae, she collaborated with bio-engineer Chris Bellamy and biophysicists from the University of Amsterdam (UvA). In her solo exhibition at the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, a sample of bubbles was already on display from the 2026 collection, Seijaku. This is a Japanese term that also describes the Airo dress: 'calm in chaos' or inner peace.

The message for the fashion industry is that experimental technology is beginning to find its place in haute couture. It also shows that the general public, despite prevailing luxury fatigue, is open to this type of wearable art.