Still Moving

Iris is 25, from Hamburg. She went to art school in London, worked at VICE in Berlin, and three years ago was planning to move to Morocco. She’s still in Paris, which tells you something about how seriously she takes plans.

The band with Arthur is called Super Secret Lovers. She writes the music and sings—the live version is physical, demanding, the opposite of someone going through motions. When she needs money, she works as a designer for L’Officiel. Otherwise she travels, which seems like the actual job.

There’s a story about sunbathing topless with Arthur in a Paris garden. The neighbors, Muslim and unimpressed, nearly lost it. Most people learn something from a near-lynching about respecting local norms. Iris seems to have learned that people’s expectations are their problem, not hers.

The restlessness isn’t for show. She’s not building a brand or documenting adventures. She just doesn’t stay still. Hamburg, London, Berlin, Paris, the next place—they’re not on an itinerary, just where she’s been. The difference between someone with a travel blog and someone who actually can’t sit still is pretty obvious once you see it.