Originally posted by Fashion Wire Daily NY June 26@ 2003
Helmut Uses His Head: FWD Interviews the Brainiest Designer Out There
By Godfrey Deeny
Helmut Lang is a mixture of dark and light, evident from two presents spied during an interview with the designer in his Manhattan atelier.
First, at the entrance, sits a horseshoe crab, finely washed yet still threatening-looking in a pristine white box with a handwritten note, a gift to one of Lang's best friends, the artist Louise Bourgeois. Then there's the enormous, colorful bouquet of flowers -- the sort you need to open two doors to accept -- which are a gift for another pal.
"The crab? It's a gift for Louise Bourgeois. I thought she'd like it. It's not really a crab, more a prehistoric spider that became a crustacean," says Lang, who discovered the object on the shores of a pond near his house in East Hampton.
Lang has always been a unique cocktail, a creator of frequently classical silhouettes in the least likely of fabrics, a designer who finds inspiration in fireman's gear and workers' outfits -- one whose look is ever that of a gentleman.
On the day we meet, he's in the midst of fittings at his design studio and "couture space" on 142 Greene St. in Soho, working hard in preparation to present his men's collection in Paris on June 29. Yet he finds time to talk about his new collection, Jil Sander's return to the Prada Group, his latest ad campaign, other designers aping his work, and why he's not a fine artist but merely an applied one.
"Every collection summons up a different mood. But this season, there's going to be a new relaxed chic somehow. Elegant but very manly, if that makes any sense," explains Lang.
"But I only really define the collection when I put it together in Paris. When everything arrives, you can still take it in one or two or three different directions," says Lang, who plans to introduce fabrics like elastics -- to give a level of comfort -- and lots of leather and stretch, if it makes it to the runway.
Lang is excited about his made-to-measure section for VIPs and movie stars, though he cautions that it's "not established as a profit center." He's discreet about who he dresses, but a glance through FWD's own red carpet and events coverage reveals an impressive haul, including Ben Affleck, Ewan McGregor, Josh Hartnett, Ethan Hawke, Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Jennifer Connelly, Frances McDormand, Nicole Kidman, Uma Thurman and Ellen Barkin.
Lang is also slow to share his thoughts on the return of Jil Sander to the Prada Group, his long-term partners.
"She has to say what's happening herself and so does Mr. [Patrizio, boss of Prada] Bertelli. But the situation was probably more threatening when she was not there. Because then the group was trying to deal with the fact she was not there. So Jil's return will free the group up from hard thinking and negotiating," he opines.
When one suggests that Sander's return was a good day for designers, and proof that there is a limit to corporate demands in fashion, Lang responds, "This is a horse that can be beaten to death. It's not like we are all victims and that the producers and business partners are completely wrong. It's a relationship -- some last forever, some get divorced and some kill each other. I've gone through all sorts of production companies and licenses in Italy and now that we're with the Prada Group, some things work and some don't."
One issue that sparked a row with Sander was Bertelli's decision to pick which publications her house should advertise. How important is that for Lang? "It's important. It's my job. I supervise the clothes and the image and the ad campaign includes that. That's logical."
Ironically, the latest Lang campaign to break was shot by Ines van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, the same pair whose campaign for Sander was squashed by Sander upon her return to her house.
Lang is clearly delighted with his own campaign, which broke this week in Milan in Uomo Vogue and on a special cover of the International Herald Tribune. "It's very strong. It's like picking up the spirit from the Stephanie Seymour campaign we did two years ago."
Though he might open ad campaigns in Milan, he's got no plans to show there. Lang is committed to showing his next men's and women's collections in Paris. "I have no immediate plans to show here. I'm in New York anyway. I'm in a great position of being in New York and in Paris at more or less the same time, so I'm in a really great position. The combination is really good, so for the moment there's no need to change. But for the future, you never know."
Lang always shows in daylight, generally to small crowds, though back in the early '90s, when his house really took off, he used to show to an audience of several thousand. "There were these new police restrictions in Paris, so instead of 900 people allowed into a space at Rue des Commines, there were just 150. That's when we invented the so-called 'intimate show,' which, like a lot of other things, was taken over by other people," recalls the designer, who one senses is conscious of the dubious distinction of being the most aped in fashion.
"I prefer shows in daylight, because the mixture of daylight and artificial light has a certain glow. It has a cool factor that suits us," says Lang.
Asked if his preference for daylight might be one reason Lang is more identified more as a designer for day than night, Lang responds: "We do our fair share of evening. But our evening is definitely not a very trashy evening. It's trying to be more cool and intellectual, which is for a smaller percentage of people. Most people who go out in the evening want to be outrageous and quite trashy."
Rather than inject that trashy instant gratification element, Helmut travels to exotic locations or researches ancient historic periods to create a new collection. His ideas come from within, not from outside stimuli and popular culture. Recent reports citing the influence of "The Matrix" in his and other designers' work amuse him.
"I haven't seen Matrix one or two, and I'm dying to see it and we all want to date Keanu Reeves. I don't why I missed the first one, but I did!" he says.
Lang is acutely aware of his influence on fashion, though too much of a gentleman ever to actually accuse anyone of copying him. "If you look back at the last 10 years, it indicates that the younger designers start to reference those of us who went before. I think we have been very influential. We still are. We have created the modern silhouette, actually, and today it's very strong out there."
"Designers work more seriously now, and that's good. You can divide people up into god searchers and entertainers, and it's the same thing for artists," says Lang, who clearly sees himself as one of the former. "I think fashion is applied art. It all depends who does it. It's either very good, or not so good. It's not so important if it's art or not, it simply isn't. We make clothes that are used by people, which is really great. But art has another way, how it is transported to the public and used."
"I think fashion can be art, but mostly it really is not. Since the 1996 Biennale in Florence, fashion has been defined as its own artistic force. It simply comes down to whether tour work in fashion is perceived as art or not," Lang continues. "Clothes are used by people in a very direct way, which is really great. Art has another way -- how it is transported to the public and used. But the fashion world and the art world are definitely interested in each other."
Lang's future plans include signing a new underwear license, an important step for a designer who once helped build his brand with close-up shots of a man in tight red knickers. For him, brand building is a soulful thing. "If you are authentic you can build up the trademark. A marketing wizard can do very well for a few seasons, and there are a lot of them out there."
And for a designer in the midst of the biggest general fashion recession in eons, he's sanguine about the current downturn. "The whole excited market collapsed two years ago. All the formulas don't apply anymore. Actually, at the moment, it's nearly a blessing not to have too many shops. When we first did our joint venture with Prada Group, the idea was to open lots of stores and we could have become suddenly very big, and we could have crashed. But we didn't, and in that sense, we very lucky."
Prada acquired 51 percent of Helmut Lang's business for an undisclosed sum, but Lang remains in charge of his house. By the standards of older designers like Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani, Lang's turnover is not enormous. His house had sales of some 42 million Euros last year. So, his influence on contemporary fashion is immensely greater than his financial impact to date.
"I think the not so strong economy is beneficial for creativity, because you can't just work only with marketing money and promotion money. People are more conscious of what they buy and what they want to become. When we had our breakthrough 10 years ago, the times were similar, and I think that can be good for fashion."
This designer is from the everything-happens-for-a-reason school. Recalling the late '80s, he notes: "At that point, the question was whether to do Balenciaga in Paris. And I had other offers. But I decided that I didn't want to design for another house. With what we had achieved it didn't make sense to split into two lines. Personally, I find it very difficult to work on two lines."
And where does he see himself in 10 years? "I don't know. I never make plans for the future. In life, it's an evolution. There are opportunities. I never made a plan, because I think it's very limiting. It puts you on an unnecessary path. I'm happy with all my decisions. Half you will on you, and half happens to you. I wouldn't do anything different."
Helmut Uses His Head
- Thread starter Astrid21
- Start date
astrid hoeny you ill have genius babys any ways, just rember to educate them and expose them to art and creativetyOriginally posted by Astrid21@Jun 28th, 2003 - 4:36 pm
I just wanted to add that I want to have his babies - so I can have genius childern.
