Math Meets Couture: Infinite Sums and Iris van Herpen at the Brooklyn Museum

The Brooklyn Museum has announced the North American debut of fashion designer Iris van Herpen’s Sculpting the Senses, supported by the Simons Foundation as part of its Infinite Sums initiative. Sculpting the Senses opens to the public on May 16, 2026, with public programming collaborations between the Simons Foundation and the Brooklyn Museum to be announced. You can find more information about the exhibition here.

This exploration of Iris Van Herpen’s remarkable body of work reflects a core tenet of the Infinite Sums initiative: that math is ubiquitous in culture, and through culture, we can better appreciate math’s profound beauty. Van Herpen, the legendary fashion designer behind some of the most innovative work of the 21st century, has long blended meticulous craftsmanship, groundbreaking technology and dialogue with math and science.

Mathematics has always been integral to fashion design. At a very surface level, patterns and symmetry — from the geometric, structural integrity of Cristobal Balenciaga’s work to the Loewe puzzle bag — are not hard to see. But a closer look reveals a centuries-long dialogue between designers and mathematicians, from 16th-century Spanish mathematicians and tailors to the MC Escher-inspired work of garments by the legendary Alexander McQueen. In 2010, Dai Fujiwara, then creative director of Issey Miyake, worked with Cornell University mathematician William Thurston on a collaboration that explored how two-dimensional pieces of fabric can be used to create three-dimensional shapes.

Van Herpen carries that lineage forward, translating concepts like tessellation and symmetry into movement, texture, and light. Her 2020 collection Sensory Seas visualized the flow of ocean currents; her Morphogenesis Dress brought Alan Turing’s theories on how patterns emerge in natural systems to life. For Sculpting the Senses, van Herpen’s work will be on brilliant display. The exhibition will feature more than 140 “haute couture creations,” according to the Brooklyn Museum.

Van Herpen is widely regarded as one of the most innovative designers working today. Considered a visionary for her approach to fashion as a form of sculpture, her creations draw on mathematics, physics, and biology to explore how structure and motion give shape to garments. As the Brooklyn Museum notes in its announcement, Sculpting the Senses “explores the body’s place in space, its relationship to clothing and its environment, and its future in a rapidly changing world.”

The Brooklyn Museum has a rich history of curating immersive, interdisciplinary exhibits on the history of fashion. From Schiaparelli to Gaultier, Dior to Mugler, the museum has celebrated the work of iconic designers, situating them alongside fine art, film, scientific artifacts and more.

They’re an ideal partner for Infinite Sums and for Sculpting the Senses, which premiered at Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris to widespread critical acclaim. In its review, The New York Times described the exhibition as “a reminder that [van Herpen’s] genius has always been in understanding that technology and couture are not oppositional forces — that, in many ways, the sewing needle was simply an early mechanical tool — and that the one can be harnessed to realize the potential of the other.”

Ultimately, this collaboration reflects a core belief driving Infinite Sums — that math has utility beyond just numbers. It’s our hope that visitors to the Brooklyn Museum’s presentation of Sculpting the Senses will see how mathematical ideas shape design, perception, and boundless imagination. By highlighting the ways math manifests in art forms like fashion, we invite people to experience its beauty and ubiquity on a deeper level.

Public programming collaborations between the Simons Foundation and the Brooklyn Museum will feature dialogues between mathematicians, artists, curators and more. More information about programming will be available in the coming months. For more information on the Simons Foundation’s Infinite Sums initiative, visit infinitesums.simonsfoundation.org.