Peter Do - Designer, Creative Director of Helmut Lang

Good news! And I look forward to see who will be the next one destroying this brand (again)...
 
Vincent Ho, former CEO of Peter Do (the brand), just posted this in reaction to the news:

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
I wanna know what went down! Omondi was so late with her Cutting Room Floor ep of the Peter Do team that it only got posted this Feburary despite being recorded around COVID times. and by the time Omondi uploaded it was obvious that Vin and Jess had parted ways with Peter. Kind of ironic considering they spent a significant portion of the podcast talking about how the strength of their friendship was one of the foundations of Peter's brand.
 
Full article on WWD:
Peter Do Is Stepping Down as Creative Director of Helmut Lang
Do is leaving his role at Helmut Lang at the end of November; pre-fall 2025 will be Do's last collection with the brand.

By Emily Mercer
November 13, 2024, 5:37pm


WWD has learned that Peter Do is parting ways with Helmut Lang.

In a statement, the brand said, “Helmut Lang announces that Peter Do will be stepping down from his position as creative director at the end of this month.”

“I want to express my deepest gratitude to Peter for his exceptional creative leadership and vision and wish him continued success in his future endeavors,” Kazumi Yanai, chairman of Helmut Lang, said in the statement.

“Peter Do joined Helmut Lang in 2023, bringing a fresh perspective and revitalizing the brand for a new generation. He reinforced the brand’s reputation for pushing boundaries while honoring its minimalist roots,” the statement continued.

“I want to express my gratitude to my Helmut Lang team, who have been integral in supporting my vision. It’s been an incredible journey to be tasked to carry on the legacy of Helmut Lang. I would like to give special thanks to Kazumi for this opportunity of a lifetime and an experience that I will never forget,” Do said in the statement. The designer on Wednesday teased a picture of fittings from his spring 2025 collection for the house; pre-fall 2025 will be Do’s last collection with the brand.

Do joined Helmut Lang, the Fast Retailing-owned brand, as creative director in May 2023 to oversee all creative responsibilities for the women’s and men’s collections, while simultaneously working on his namesake luxury line, which he established in 2018 in New York.

At the time, Dinesh Tandon, global chief executive officer of Theory, commented on Do to WWD, “His clear and innovative approach to design very much aligns with the brand’s ethos and heritage. His experience with luxury fashion houses and his acclaimed eponymous label make him a natural choice for this role.”

Prior to Do’s appointment, Helmut Lang was designed by a studio team. Others who have held creative roles at the brand include Mark Howard Thomas (who has been creative director, menswear), Thomas Cawson (who has been design director and creative director, denim), and Shayne Oliver (who has been a designer in residence). Helmut Lang was established in 1986 by creative director and founder Helmut Lang, who became known for pioneering minimalism, his progressive approach, edgy and cool élan, and collaborative engagements with artists before leaving the industry in 2005.

During Do’s year-and-a-half-long tenure at the brand, he presented four collections that riffed on Helmut Lang’s rich heritage through a mix of modernized suiting, shirting, minimalist and utility looks. His debut Helmut Lang collection for spring 2024 was presented during New York Fashion Week and received mixed reviews from critics, which Do took in stride.

“I think that’s part of the job now. So whether I like it or not, I feel like it’s going to come . . . . At the end of the day, I care about the product and I care about the team and I care about the legacy. It’s going to take time for people to understand and to rebuild a brand from the ground up. Helmut is such an important brand for a lot of people, and I get that; I have brands for me that I’m like, ‘Don’t touch it.’ So I understand, but I’m trying to speak to a new generation of people who may not have heard of Helmut Lang before who are interested in the story I’m trying to tell now,” Do told WWD in December 2023 during a preview of his pre-fall 2024 collection.

Do’s second collection was a stronger, more focused effort, and by his fourth and most recent collection, resort 2025 — the brand skipped September’s New York Fashion Week, and spring 2025 season thus far — WWD’s Booth Moore wrote that Do’s vision was crystalizing.

“This season he played up softer, more versatile casual wear, including layerable garment-dyed terry sweats, the signature Helmut Lang tank stretched into a column dress, and cloud jersey pieces with adjustable tabs to raise or lower lengths. It was a good move, one that made Helmut Lang less intimidating and runway-stiff,” Moore wrote.

At the time, Do told WWD his next few seasons would be about honing Helmut Lang’s signatures and making sure they’re represented in every retail partner and door the brand has. “It’s going to take some time for people to understand this is Peter’s chapter. These are the codes that he made,” he said.
WWD
 
I wonder if the Phillip Lim news is related…
Who is surprised? Peter Do is a bubble for people who don’t really know anything about fashion. He should just try to be hired somewhere as a design director.

Go to Toteme Peter!
 
I wonder if the Phillip Lim news is related…
Who is surprised? Peter Do is a bubble for people who don’t really know anything about fashion. He should just try to be hired somewhere as a design director.

Go to Toteme Peter!
Oh god, please don’t.

Elin doesn’t need seatbelt details added to her garments.
 
Just let this die let the brand go it's finished, it was such a long time ago and that time period that he existed in (Lang) has zero relevancy in this world that we live in right now. The only way for this brand to come back is if the original designer what's to come back and make a real splash and statement he would also make a lot of money but he's not interested because he knows it's over they're just putting money into the shareholders hand trying to make something pop. The brand is completely irrelevant as we stand right now.
 
Helmet Lang was feeding on opposites the opposites of Christian LaCroix the opposite of Versace the opposite of Chanel what would those opposites be minimalism with a certain sexual flare those opposites no longer exist so therefore the brand can't really move anywhere because it's dead. We live in a Time where everything is existing all together all at once.
 
To me this is more evidence of Peter working best at his own label or just behind the scenes. What he does at his namesake does not interest me all that much, but it has its place (especially for NYFW). His tenure at Lang just highlighted that his POV does not extend well to anything but himself OR as part of a design team where it’s diluted or mixed in with other perspectives.

Frankly, Helmut Lang was really of its time and existed well within that context because that kind of space allowed it to thrive. It doesn’t work now because sensibilities are different. It’s just too forced so hopefully they let the brand rest. Or as others have said, keep it to small archival re-editions with small distribution and those denim collaborations like the Uniqlo one.
 

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