What’s Happening: Besides showcasing 100 of the Dutch couturier’s most technologically impressive garments, a landmark show at Paris’s Musée des Arts Décoratifs offers a rare look inside a repository of her references ranging from fossil fragments to conceptual aquatecture.

The Download: Iris Van Herpen first experimented with 3D-printed clothing in 2010, before she shot to fashion-world fame for her otherworldly garments that capture a dazzling futurism. “It was a very important piece for me,” she said of the swirling wearable, whose polymer and eco-leather construction was devised with architect Daniel Wildrig. “This is when I started collaborating with architects and scientists. I started not only drawing inspiration from these disciplines, but working with them, and that really raised the level of my clothing.” More than a decade later, the Dutch couturier has carved a niche as one of the most forward-thinking designers working today. Her nonpareil vision incorporates cutting-edge technology to explore fashion as an interdisciplinary language inextricably tied to physics, biology, dance, and art.

“Iris Van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses,” a landmark solo exhibition that opened yesterday at Paris’s Musée des Arts Décoratifs, showcases more than 100 of her most notable garments. There’s the radiant sci-fi–inflected gown worn by Grimes at the 2021 Met Gala, whose mirror-finish liquid silicone adornments were individually hand-cast and arranged in a 3-D “laser-cut labyrinth” onto a nude illusion bodice melted onto gradient-dyed, hand-pleated silk. (Van Herpen spent 900 hours perfecting its construction.) The dresses captivate as technological feats, but the show also brings her biggest influences to the fore. Museum-goers journey into her mind through a cabinet of curiosities packed with references from fossil fragments and crystalline lattices to Ferruccio Laviani’s glitchy wood armoire and bulbous feather sculptures by Kate MccGwire.

Van Herpen is also conscious of today’s pressing issues. One of the show’s most compelling moments arrives in Japanese collective Mé’s hyper-realistic wave installation, which overtly nods to Van Herpen’s fascination with water. While her fall 2024 couture show referenced the aquatic architecture of Jacques Rougerie and Bjarke Ingels, rising sea levels also threaten the longevity of her Amsterdam studio. What has caught her attention lately? Artificial intelligence, but her experiments are separate from her creative process for now. When the exhibition travels to Brisbane in June, she hopes to have implemented “A-Iris” that can answer questions visitors pose about her garments in real-time. Don’t expect A-Iris to put on the designer hat anytime soon, though. “I wouldn’t want to give away the part I think is most personal and most human,” she tells Vogue. “Creativity is one of the most valuable things we have as human beings.”

In Their Own Words: “When it comes to the intention and the effort and the love that goes into something, I think humans can be as good as nature,” Van Herpen tells Vogue. “One big outstanding question is whether we can really be as clever as nature in its circularity and its perfection in how things are continually renewed. I think when design gets there, we are very close to nature. But I must also be honest that this is not where fashion is at yet.”

Surface Says: We can’t wait to ask A-Iris for outfit recommendations.

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Long a destination for landmark attractions such as the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, the Sistine Chapel, and more, Rome is a city lost in time—an endearing quality that makes it one of the world’s most visited places. The hotel scene mirrors that energy, but recently a flood of new properties have poured in: The W, Soho House, Six Senses, and Bulgari to name a few. Ian Schrager and his hit Edition brand have taken notice, joining the fray with a 91-room outpost.

Inhabiting an erstwhile 1940s Italian bank, Schrager has breathed new life into the building’s rationalist shell while preserving its historic charm, like a stunning central staircase crafted from precious cipollino marble. This new entrant is positioned steps away from the legendary Via Veneto, an area immortalized by the classic film La Dolce Vita. The signature Edition touches are all there, with new flourishes like an intimate jade-cloaked cocktail bar and chef Paola Colucci Jasmin-strewn courtyard restaurant Amina. Standouts include interpretations of classic Italian dishes like the divine Cantabrian anchovies served with bread rolls, malga butter, wild fennel, and candied lemon or the seasonal pumpkin tortellini and Dijon mustard. Another revelation? A rare rooftop pool in the Eternal City.

Earlier this month, the French tableware stalwart took the plunge into zine culture in impeccable style and hosted a cocktail to celebrate the publication of Art on the Table. In a nod to society tomes of years past, like Nan Kemper’s R.S.V.P., and Park Avenue Potluck, the brand gathered New York’s most captivating hosts to participate. Tyrell Hampton and Adrianna Glaviano shot their tablescapes for the festive season zine, which inspired the evening’s drinks and bites.

When was it? Nov. 14

Where was it? WSA, New York

Who was there? Alina Cho, Gabriella Khalil, Laura Kim, Michael Bargo, Christopher John Rogers, Henry Zankov, Roopal Patel, Tanya Posternak, Rafael Prieto, Adrian Gaut, and more.

When: Until Dec. 22

Where: Roll & Hill, New York

What: The latest development in the Calico Wallpaper co-founder’s fine art practice, “Impressions” explores the connection between creativity and family life. In this series of paintings, the New York-based artist uses texture and color to bring to life works inspired by photographs of her children. Cope drew inspiration from other women artists—particularly Ruth Asawa, who also created her work alongside her children—and pulled from what she describes as the “reverie and fear” inherent in motherhood to create each work in the moments of quiet before her children woke up and after they went to bed.

Named for the inspiration it takes from the ancient Japanese art of masterfully arranging flowers, Jaime Hayon’s Ikebana Vase for Fritz Hansen brings together hand-blown glass and solid brass to showcase flora in all their verdant resplendence. The perforated brass inlays present in the Spanish designer’s vase allow stems and other greenery to help create captivating arrangements. Sizes include small, large, and long vessels suited to a variety of spaces.

Noho’s bold, colorful, and playful furniture is designed to bring comfort and joy to home and workplace. Its core range of seating, the Move and Lightly chairs, are made from sustainable ingredients like castor beans, discarded carpets, and recycled fishing nets. All Noho products are made in Wellington, New Zealand, to maintain quality, minimize production waste, and ensure only renewable energy is used throughout the process.

Surface Says: Noho pulls off the near-impossible by making ergonomic furniture look good: sunny yellow and teal colorways pop online and IRL, while its sleek silhouettes ditch the corporate feel of traditional ergonomic seating.

A thrift-shop N.C. Wyeth painting sold for $191,000, but then the buyer reneged.

Kim Kardashian’s own home inspired the identity for Skky, her investment firm.

Jerry Saltz had some words about Refik Anadol’s recent MoMA installation.

Portugal reportedly ran on 100 percent renewable energy for six days in a row.