when even your car is couture...
All images and information courtesy of Rolls Royce Motor Car
When you have extreme wealth it seems that not only can your clothes be couture. Why not take things a step further and have your car be a custom creation too.
Rolls-Royce and kingdom favourite Iris van Herpen have teamed up to produce a one off extraordinary new model of Phantom. Inspired by her 2018 Snytopia collection, the commission for the car brand’s Bespoke series was four years in the making.
The unique Phantom Syntopia is being produced for an unnamed client in the United States who will take delivery in May. “Phantom Syntopia is the most ambitious, singular, and highly Bespoke Phantom we have ever created,” said Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös, “and a clear statement of Rolls-Royce’s standing as a true luxury house.”
For this special collaboration I was inspired by the concept of ‘Weaving Water’ and transformed the sense of being in movement into an immersive experience of fluidity inside the Phantom. I wanted this to become a state-of-the-art experience being overwhelmed by the forces of nature. The powerful movement of the Phantom is woven into the shifting three-dimensional waves inside the car to embody the ingenuity of nature. When I met the Bespoke Collective, I discovered that the world of Rolls-Royce is very similar to Haute Couture. Every garment I create is a one-off, tailor-made to my clients’ individual measurements, just like every Rolls-Royce. My clients come to our atelier in Amsterdam for fittings, just as Rolls-Royce clients are invited to Goodwood throughout the design and craft process. On many levels, this collaboration was a natural symbiosis.
Both the inside and exterior are taking everything to a truly couture level.
A sheet of laser-cut leather and petals of glass organza—resembling rippling water—comprise the top of the interior, while fiber-optic “star” lights give the impression of stargazing. Van Herpen’s team spent two weeks at the Rolls-Royce’s manufacturing facility in Goodwood, England, to complete the elaborate ornamentation.
The exterior of Phantom Syntopia shimmers with a pearlescent Liquid Noir, a shade of paint developed exclusively for the car that Rolls-Royce said took 3,000 hours to perfect. Iridescent in sunlight, it is a dark, rich hue with undertones of purple, magenta, blue, and gold.
As if all of this wasn’t enough the Phantom Syntopia comes with its own custom-made scent and a matching couture dress that will be designed and created for the new owner.
Iris van Herpen has long combined high-tech couture collections, advocating for the merging of art, craftsmanship, and technology. She often incorporates 3D printing and laser-cutting in her dressmaking, her wonderful work work will be featured in an upcoming retrospective at Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
Queen Marie
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