Helmut Lang S/S 2024 New York

[Mathewthew]

I don't know what's the fuzz about being in the Phoebe Philo's factory? The quiet luxury means more than a basic items.

It's funny Cathy kinda praise Hedi with a shady comments and she totally get's the point and the idea behind Helmut Lang.

 

[Bernie Flood]

How much it takes for Helmut to return to his design house?!

 

[LadyJunon]

How much it takes for Helmut to return to his design house?!

It would probably have to be done by force.

 

[Ruito]

such a weak debut, tragic really...

 

[margielamike2004]

Very Unserious. Hardly differentiated pieces.

i dont ever remember this super brand helmut lang of yore though. He was in the moment like natalie imbruglia. Like natalie imbruglia we have some cute songs from a time period but it doesnt extend outside that. He like her just didnt have it to create a long lasting career. I agree Helmut shouldve been dropped a long time ago.

people are into helmut now bc the 90s are in. Everyone is trying to do their Blade / Real World Seattle realness. Helmut is that look.

Helmut Lang diminished soon after the corporate buy-in by Prada. During the same year... Prada also bought Jil Sander. I guess Prada was blood thirsty for Austrian designer at that time.

 

[YohjiAddict]

A sad and measly show that could only come from a limp imagination like that of Peter Do, it’s all quite “10 years ago” with the use of mustard yellow and the color-blocking of the styling. The clothes themselves are not hideous but they’re not desirable or intriguing. Might as well go to Uniqlo indeed.

 

[Bernie Flood]

It would probably have to be done by force.

Jil Sander managed to return and go from her brand. Helmut should be able to do the same thing too!! $3-5 million should be enough!

 

[Bernie Flood]

Helmut Lang diminished soon after the corporate buy-in by Prada. During the same year... Prada also bought Jil Sander. I guess Prada was blood thirsty for Austrian designer at that time.

Was it true that Helmut Lang wasn’t profitable so Prada had to sell it out?

 

[Lola701]

Was it true that Helmut Lang wasn’t profitable so Prada had to sell it out?

It was loosing money, which is not necessarily the same. The brand was growing before the Prada deal…Even if It faced some challenges.

 

[LadyJunon]

Was it true that Helmut Lang wasn’t profitable so Prada had to sell it out?

It was loosing money, which is not necessarily the same. The brand was growing before the Prada deal…Even if It faced some challenges.

It's a bit weird to explain, but this is the general story behind the Helmut/Prada/Theory thing:

Back in 1997, Helmut Lang launched "Helmut Lang Jeans", a lower-priced line that was a licensing deal with GTR Group. The diffusion line, which mostly consisted of high margin basics, became the cash cow for the label. The following year, Helmut Lang moved his headquarters and shows to New York.

In 1999, Prada acquired 51% of the Helmut Lang label. Under Bertezelli, the label went through intense restructuring, shifting to the operations of a more "traditional" luxury brand. This included axing the "Jeans" line in favour of using Helmut Lang's mainline collections as marketing vehicles to sell leather goods and perfumes. They also moved the shows back to Paris to further push that traditional luxury image.

Helmut Lang's customer base didn't respond to that vision, so the label's sales plummeted during the early '00s and Lang sold the remaining 49% of the label, before jumping ship in 2005. Prada sold the label to Link Theory in 2006, who relaunched the label as a contemporary label the following year.

 

[runner]

prada was not able to handle HL. they were deviating from the plan.
it was rather awkward. like the new flagship that was located near the prada building below. it fell through right before its launch.
his shop (which was closed down with the start of the prada era) had been on the first floor of the live music club where bjork, vanessa paradis, sade, primal scream, etc used to have their one night gigs. HL was what escapes. so it was all the more magnetic.
such brand can't be compatible with its own tag with "IPI" printed on it.




designart

 

[LadyJunon]

^What the actual f*ck is that? It looks so oppressive...

 

[runner]

^another cage or pyramid, a tomb

 

[Bernie Flood]

It's a bit weird to explain, but this is the general story behind the Helmut/Prada/Theory thing:

Back in 1997, Helmut Lang launched "Helmut Lang Jeans", a lower-priced line that was a licensing deal with GTR Group. The diffusion line, which mostly consisted of high margin basics, became the cash cow for the label. The following year, Helmut Lang moved his headquarters and shows to New York.

In 1999, Prada acquired 51% of the Helmut Lang label. Under Bertezelli, the label went through intense restructuring, shifting to the operations of a more "traditional" luxury brand. This included axing the "Jeans" line in favour of using Helmut Lang's mainline collections as marketing vehicles to sell leather goods and perfumes. They also moved the shows back to Paris to further push that traditional luxury image.

Helmut Lang's customer base didn't respond to that vision, so the label's sales plummeted during the early '00s and Lang sold the remaining 49% of the label, before jumping ship in 2005. Prada sold the label to Link Theory in 2006, who relaunched the label as a contemporary label the following year.

I wonder if Miuccia P. Had something to do with the decision.
Nicolas Ghesquiere thought Helmut Lang to replaced Josephus Thimester at Balenciaga but he ended up taking the job. Lang could have been great at Balenciaga.

 

[Bernie Flood]

^What the actual f*ck is that? It looks so oppressive...

Brand is dead. It should just be a legacy brand.
Besides, HL influence lots of current fashion houses. Riccardo Tisci, Alexander Wang and Nicolas Ghesquiere to name a few.

 

[Lola701]

I wonder if Miuccia P. Had something to do with the decision.
Nicolas Ghesquiere thought Helmut Lang to replaced Josephus Thimester at Balenciaga but he ended up taking the job. Lang could have been great at Balenciaga.

It’s not that he though…He was approached but it never happened. Nicolas’s first collection for Balenciaga was supposed to be a one-off actually.
Ultimately, Lang not going to Balenciaga was a great thing as Nicolas was able to write a very much important part of 21st century fashion.

‘Today, we see those brands for what they are but in the 80’s/90’s, those brands were outdated and represented a past nobody wanted to revive.

Look at the revival ou Courreges and Paco Rabanne. It was done in the right way. They went to look at the talents where they were and build something out of it.
Here it’s interesting to see how it backfired for HL. All that hype around Peter Do for him not to deliver.

‘People are so invested in the idea of a British designer being at a British brand because it works culturally but don’t actually believe that a European designer at the helm of a European brand would be relevant…

I’m thinking about the duo of designers who was at the helm of Iceberg years ago. They could have been perfect for Helmut Lang. There are a lot of designers in the studios who are maybe less expensive than Peter Do and who could have delivered something more substantial.

‘Now with all those mixed reviews, I know Do must be shaking when thinking about his Parisian debut.

 

[LadyJunon]

I wonder if Miuccia P. Had something to do with the decision.

Nicolas Ghesquiere thought Helmut Lang to replaced Josephus Thimester at Balenciaga but he ended up taking the job. Lang could have been great at Balenciaga.

It's funny you say that, considering that Ghesquière's first set of collections (SS98 to SS00) were very reminiscent of Helmut Lang's collections. It's only really AW00 when you start seeing that iconic Ghesquière style that defined his Balenciaga.

‘People are so invested in the idea of a British designer being at a British brand because it works culturally but don’t actually believe that a European designer at the helm of a European brand would be relevant…

I’m thinking about the duo of designers who was at the helm of Iceberg years ago. They could have been perfect for Helmut Lang. There are a lot of designers in the studios who are maybe less expensive than Peter Do and who could have delivered something more substantial.

‘Now with all those mixed reviews, I know Do must be shaking when thinking about his Parisian debut.

I think that a common issue is how insular London and New York's fashion communities are. Paris and Milan seem to work in tandem with each other along with other fashion hubs, while London and New York seldom look outside of their bubbles, even down to the schools. It was more open in the 90s and early 00s, so something must have happened in the late 00s to cause this divide.

I really feel that Helmut Lang would benefit from a designer with more European sensibilities and less aversion to eroticism. Maybe someone from the design teams at Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent or Courrèges. I don't really see any independent designers who would be suitable, since most of the new minimalist guard veer closer to Philo than Lang.

As for Peter Do, I feel that the Helmut Lang show has pulled him back to fashion mortality, especially since his main selling point was being "Post-Philo Philo". Seeing the very-mixed reception to his Helmut Lang along with the upcoming show in Paris, should tell him that he'll have to learn how to diversify himself as a designer.

 

[naranja]

It's funny you say that, considering that Ghesquière's first set of collections (SS98 to SS00) were very reminiscent of Helmut Lang's collections. It's only really AW00 when you start seeing that iconic Ghesquière style that defined his Balenciaga.

I think that a common issue is how insular London and New York's fashion communities are. Paris and Milan seem to work in tandem with each other along with other fashion hubs, while London and New York seldom look outside of their bubbles, even down to the schools. It was more open in the 90s and early 00s, so something must have happened in the late 00s to cause this divide.

I really feel that Helmut Lang would benefit from a designer with more European sensibilities and less aversion to eroticism. Maybe someone from the design teams at Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent or Courrèges. I don't really see any independent designers who would be suitable, since most of the new minimalist guard veer closer to Philo than Lang.

As for Peter Do, I feel that the Helmut Lang show has pulled him back to fashion mortality, especially since his main selling point was being "Post-Philo Philo". Seeing the very-mixed reception to his Helmut Lang along with the upcoming show in Paris, should tell him that he'll have to learn how to diversify himself as a designer.

Everybody on the design teams at Saint Laurent are all old losers

 

[LadyJunon]

Every once in a while, I look at this collection again with the aim of giving it a 2nd/3rd/4th chance, but it always just looks worse each time. If the materials and tailoring were to par, we would've had a decent show. It's just that: tortured concept + cheap execution = bad results.