Designers Switching Houses & Moving to New Brands

[RedSmokeRise]

BoF Exclusive: Hood By Air’s Shayne Oliver Joins Helmut Lang

NEW YORK, United States — Helmut Lang, the storied label acquired in 2006 by Fast Retailing subsidiary Link Theory Holdings, is set for yet another transformation. BoF has learned that chief executive Andrew Rosen has appointed Isabella Burley the brand's editor-in-residence. In turn, Burley, who is also the editor-in-chief of Dazed magazine, has recruited Hood by Air designer Shayne Oliver to create a special collection to be revealed in September 2017. The collection will include men’s and women’s clothing, as well as accessories. It is thought that Burley will continue to bring on new designers for special capsules in seasons to come.

"Helmut Lang is a pioneering company and we are going back to its heritage of being bold,” said Rosen, who is also chief executive of Theory. (Both Theory and Helmut Lang are part of Link Theory Holdings, a fully owned subsidiary of Fast Retailing, the Japanese conglomerate behind Uniqlo).

Rumours began swirling last month around Oliver’s involvement in Helmut Lang — and what that meant for the fate of Hood By Air, the fashion collective for which he has served as head designer and public face. After Hood By Air canceled its March 2017 show at Paris Fashion Week, industry insiders wondered if the label was on the verge of closing. Not so, said a representative for the label: "Shayne is currently focusing his time on the special project with Helmut Lang. As a result, HBA will be continued but is transitioning to accommodate this. We will be releasing more information soon.”

Helmut Lang's new direction will be closely followed in a market where mid-priced brands reliant on wholesale are feeling more and more pressure. (When Fast Retailing acquired Helmut Lang in 2006, it rebooted the formerly designer-level brand as a contemporary priced label.)

The first fruits of Burley’s work at the brand — including a relaunched website and revamped digital presence — will be revealed during the summer of 2017.

Designer Alexandre Plokhov, previously creative director of menswear at Helmut Lang, has exited the company. Previously, Nicole and Michael Colovos designed both the men’s and women’s lines. The label’s revolutionary namesake designer retired from fashion in 2005 to pursue art.

businessoffashion

Interesting...

 

[mistress_f]

^ everything about that sounds tragic

 

[vetements]

businessoffashion

Interesting...

my first reaction to reading that was

Fast Retailing got swindled by Andrew Rosen, Isabella Hurley and now Shayne Oliver....

Totally feels like they are taking Fast Retail for a ride, like what Hurley is doing there, sounds like such a created role by Rosen for her...and Hurley just brought in Oliver because they are good friends..

How is HBA related the slightest one bit to Helmut Lang really?

 

[eugenius]

Poor Alex. His work at Cloak was the best mens line in NYC. His own namesake line was exceptional. And his stuff at Helmut was just good, and, from I saw online, looked totally in tune with Lang's style. So to see him lose his job to a joke of a designer sounds very..well, it sounds very American, actually.

 

[Pricciao]

I like Shayne's recent work, but this appointment sounds sad.

 

[Marc10]

The idea of having different designers doing capsule collections is kinda interesting actually.

Big fan of Shayne here so i'm looking forward to this.

 

[tricotineacetat]

Tragic.

Helmut Lang under the umbrella of Fast Retail Group could have been potentially resulted in a very successful re-positioning of the brand, if approached in a similar way as Jil Sander did with +J or Christophe Lemaire is now doing with Uniqlo U - Just elevate the damn thing with more expensive materials and keep building on the quintessential staples known from Helmut - The chesterfield coats, the tailoring, the shirting, jersey and the jeanswear. You don't need a lot of designing, but somebody with a little bit of knowledge on the brand would have know what was great from the archives and what would work with a little bit of tweaking of the proportions to make it feel just as fresh in 2017 as it did in the heydays of the brand. Also, there are candidates to fill in at Helmut Lang that totally understand the DNA of the brand and that had previous affiliation with Mr. Lang himself, such as:

Melanie Ward
Ohne Titel
Kostas Murkudis
Nicolas Andreas Taralis

 

[perhydrol]

They basically want to do something like Donatella did with her Versus or like Ungaro back in the 2010. They just called it BOLD and yes, it's a bold move in a way because they don't even care to hire one good designer. Instead they went for HBA just for one season. And that's pretty sad.

 

[MyNameIs]

I didn't even know Ungaro had a designer

I thought it was still Lindsay Lohan.

Which, I guess, is what you're saying.

 

[Scotty]

I thought it was still Lindsay Lohan.

Which, I guess, is what you're saying.

Done with the Lohan hate! I prefer her collection to Fausto's!

 

[Lola701]

^^
YES§ STOP THE LOHAN HATE! What she did is 10 times better than a lot of things we have seen in the past 5 years. And i will not mention names...

The Helmut Lang case is so sad. It's a brand that has so much potential but they are still destroying it harder each time.
They have revamped the perfume line and it's great but the house needs a total, total revamp. They did a collab with Travis Scott..This is how desperate they are.

The revamp of Helmut Lang needs to start where everything started for him: In Paris. But in order to make it to Paris, they really need to hire a real, good, european designer. American Sportswear is great but american designers don't have that sensibility. The only ones who had that european thing are already big.

The guys who did Carven can do the job. Or someone from Hedi Slimane's team at Saint Laurent or from Riccardo's team.

 

[tricotineacetat]

If Helmut Lang is supposed to look like Helmut Lang, you need to respect the collection model and the way it's merchandised. Dior Homme was in a way a very direct continuation of that and it's no surprise a lot of Helmut Lang fans slowly moved over to Hedi. The Colovos' completely ignored what Helmut Lang stood for and instead, jumped on the Rick Owens bandwagon that was hot cake back then - I saw them several times dressed head-to-toe in Owens, the admiration was more than obvious.

Lola is right about Helmut Lang needing a designer with a decidedly European outlook on fashion. We saw it this season what a difference it made at Calvin Klein, between Raf Simons and Francisco Costa. With Raf it was much more about elevated staples than it was with Costa, who made statement pieces. Naoki Takizawa understood that and proved it in the two seasons he designed Helmut Lang menswear before moving to Uniqlo, this was the closest Helmut Lang looked like Helmut Lang since the brand was acquired by Fast Retail group.

My personal choice would be Kostas Murkudis or even Roberto Menichetti but I think they made it very clear their idea with Helmut is to be very web 2.0 / social media friendly and thus, trying to appeal to a young audience... which is a shame taking into account Helmut Lang used to be the go-to brand of art and design professionals.

 

[TaylorBinque]

Done with the Lohan hate! I prefer her collection to Fausto's!

I always thought her collection wasn't that bad. I mean it was not good but still quite an achievement for a person who doesn't have a fashion design resume.

 

[MyNameIs]

Done with the Lohan hate! I prefer her collection to Fausto's!

As if that's saying much.

The house has been in shambles for years now.

 

[fashionista-ta]

Poor Alex. His work at Cloak was the best mens line in NYC. His own namesake line was exceptional. And his stuff at Helmut was just good, and, from I saw online, looked totally in tune with Lang's style. So to see him lose his job to a joke of a designer sounds very..well, it sounds very American, actually.

Ouch ...

 

[Thefrenchy]

The word in town is that Phoebe is going to Burberry...

 

[VogueDisciple93]

I knew Lohan left Ungaro , but I honestly thought the house stopped showing for seasons now and would just go direct to stores, led by no one in particular.

Shane at Helmut is just grasping for straws, collaborating with Travis was a low point, but they did not elevate themselves with this follow up. Helmut Lang deserves better.
I saw someone throw in the girls from Ohne Titel, I like both women and their work but they are WEAK for Helmut.

 

[fashionista-ta]

The word in town is that Phoebe is going to Burberry...

With or without Christopher? Celine would be crazy to let her go ...

 

[perhydrol]

The word in town is that Phoebe is going to Burberry...

And Waight Keller would go to Céline, but it turned out that that's not true. Same with Clare at Burberry.

 

[Lola701]

I really don't see Phoebe leaving Celine. LVMH has made everything possible for her to work in the best conditions ever. Celine is almost like an extension of herself and feels very personal.
I don't think that she is the type to launch her own brand neither. But i can see Stefano taking Celine when she decides to leave...

No news about Givenchy? I suspect that the resort will be designed by the team once again..