Iris van Herpen named Johannes Vermeer Award winner

By

Shomara Roosblad

Published
Sep 6, 2017

Avant-garde fashion designer Iris van Herpen has won the Johannes Vermeer Award. The 100,000 euro prize, awarded by the Dutch government, aims to honor and encourage artistic talent in various disciplines.

Van Herpen received the award for her entire oeuvre and longstanding prominence in the international fashion community. The jury praised the designer for her unusual and interdisciplinary designs, in which Van Herpen matches innovative digital technologies with traditional craftsmanship.

Previous winners include director Steve McQueen (2016); architect Rem Koolhaas (2013); painter Marlene Dumas (2012) and photographer Erwin Olaf (2012).

Van Herpen has received numerous awards since 2009, including the Andam Awards Grand Prix (2014), the Grand Prize of the European Commission- Starts (2016), the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds fashion stipend (2016) and the Grand Seigneur Award (2016). 

The Johannes Vermeer Award was first awarded in 2009 to theatre director, Pierre Audi. The prize is intended for artists working in the Netherlands. The Johannes Vermeer Award will be formally presented to Iris van Herpen in the Ridderzaal in The Hague on 30 October 2017.