I'm not normally a fan of museums but walking around on your own and going when you want to go is much more fun and I felt like I actually spent the time really understanding the sections in the museum.

I started by looking around the history of textiles, especially within the Boras area, which used to be heavily involved due to the near by ports. I found it really interesting how the university was helping with an outfit for the Virgin Galactic Airways flight due to their experience and knowledge in smart textiles. The museum also had a section which allowed you to view and try on outfits from all different eras, showing the difference in fashion as well as textile development.

My next stop was to view the Iris Van Herpen exhibition. I hadn't heard of her before I started to look into the museum and when I saw the initial images I was really looking forward to seeing her work up close. 

'Iris van Herpen is inspired by other arts, philosophy, science and technology. During the design process, she lets associations and imaginations run wild, along with curious experiment with unconventional materials such as umbrella ribs, acrylic and porcelain coated leather. The exploration is done intuitively, without predefinedgoals, and often lead to collaborations with engineers and artists in other fields. Van Herpen gladly combine innovative technology at the forefront of traditional textile crafts. Among other things, she works with 3D printing, a technology that provides unprecedented opportunities to create sculptural forms without any restrictions. But in most of the work invested even many hours of meticulous and careful handwork where fabrics, cords, ropes, chains and metal foil pleated, braided, coiled and shaped.' - http://www.vastsverige.com/Mobile/Product.aspx?pid=51834&l=en&prodid=164816

Iris worked initially at Alexander McQueen and you can see both in her designs and runways the influence she gained from that experience.

I'm really happy I went and visited and think I would have regretted it if I didn't go. The Iris van Herpen exhibition was really good and has not only introduced a new designer to me but a new interest of looking into smaller designers and their collections.