Peter Do - Designer, Creative Director of Helmut Lang

[youthinasia]

LOL MY MIND

Well, helmutnotdead, seems like helmut(thebrand)isdead (sadly)

 

[Drusilla_]

has Fast Retailing announced anything about the future of the brand or is this a 'let's just quietly shelve it' understood with the news of Peter's exit?

 

[tourbillions]

hedi for helmut i meant "Lang"

 

[Beun]

I'm not sure that HL as a brand is dead. I think that there are still lots of potential customers out there for something that would be correctly priced (think the range of Dries-Lemaire instead of BV-the Row's eye watering tags), austere/sexy and minimal without falling into the trap of "quiet luxury" - which basically mean selling overpriced basics to the tasteless elite. I mean, what does the gallery crowd wear these days? Former go to brands such as Yohji, CdG or HL hardly offer anything actually wearable or interesting. It's a small niche, but it exists nonetheless.

 

[Lola701]

Helmut Lang is a beautiful name with an historic heritage.
Fast retailing will, im sure, try to put it back on the map again but they have to have a real strategy and invest in talents and infrastructures for it to flourish.

As Karl said, « You have to throw money out the window for it to come back through the door ».

They are working with Lucas Ossendrijver for Theory and now Phillip Lim is a free agent.

Peter Do’s vision smelled like the past and wasn’t even good for the current present. The first collection wasn’t good, the taxi cab thing wasn’t good, the proposition was lacking and nobody cared.

Maybe they should try what Carla Sozzani did with Alaia and curate a collection based on archives, maybe 15 silhouettes, re-issue the fragrances and let the brand exist that way for 1 year.

What FRAME is doing is not rocket science.

And I think they have to rethink their pricing if they wants a place in the international market. Helmut Lang today can compete with Patou, with AMI and maybe CARVEN or FRAME, Nanushka and all.

And we have to be honest, a meaningful platform for Helmut Lang is PFW.

 

[tourbillions]

they should be thriving these days, as people's wants these days are very close to the ethos of helmut lang.

 

[bc collector]

In all this, I wonder if Do's failure at HL will affect his namesake brand too, as I am afraid it will. He's technically gifted but often his designs are unnecessarily complicated. It was enough for a new name but now he's not so new anymore, so either he ups his game or sinks altogether.

 

[j02215]

I think HL as a business is a predecessor of what Phoebe Philo is experiencing now - its pov is so diluted and common place, that it’s difficult to distinguish itself and thrive.

I don’t think the brand can ever go back to its former glory, and esp not as a crash grab of its past. If it must exist, I think the best strategy would be to focus on products: quality, R&D, and pricing for now. I normally hate brands trying to connect itself to arts as it is simply a cheap strategy for brand elevation and relevance, but in the case of HL, I think it would be authentic and in line with the brand’s ethos.

For me, a big fault of Peter Do is that he and his circle only exists in a bubble and they do not seem to be interested in having a dialogue with the rest. Even when he tries to connect to arts, his choices are way too personal: a queer Vietnamese poet’s work makes a nice personal profile for nytimes, but has no relevance to the wider audience.

 

[vetements]

To be fair, I think Fast Retailing makes pretty good recruitment choices and people stay, like Lemaire, who would think one would ditched Hermes for Uniqlo? And Lemaire is French, isn’t the culture easier to work with for him, for eg. ?
Then they are also able to attract people like JWA, CWK etc. I don’t like the clothes churned out and I don’t buy them but I like the choices they made for their stables.

So I don’t think they are careless when it comes to getting someone onboard.

Only with the designers at Helmut Lang, it has never been right to the extent it is painful to watch, esp the male/female duo, just so bad.

 

[LadyJunon]

Absolutely agree. His approach to HL was too insular. A poem linking cars to Vietnamese queerness doesn't really have much widespread appeal, especially for a brand that has a huge fanbase of straight men (which is very rare in fashion).

Another issue is his clothes were simply too tricky and fussy. huge billowing shapes, straps across chests, dangling drawstrings, shirts worn backwards, literal bubblewrap. The appeal of HL is that it could walk off the runway and directly onto the street. Jil Sander has the same issue.

 

[Lola701]

To be fair, I think Fast Retailing makes pretty good recruitment choices and people stay, like Lemaire, who would think one would ditched Hermes for Uniqlo? And Lemaire is French, isn’t the culture easier to work with for him, for eg. ?
Then they are also able to attract people like JWA, CWK etc. I don’t like the clothes churned out and I don’t buy them but I like the choices they made for their stables.

So I don’t think they are careless when it comes to getting someone onboard.

Only with the designers at Helmut Lang, it has never been right to the extent it is painful to watch, esp the male/female duo, just so bad.

Your comment is totally spot on but then, it makes me question even more the strategy of the group.
They hire stars, experienced designers for Uniqlo and Theory and they go for either Shayne Oliver or Peter Do for Helmut Lang…Both are the definition of one hit wonders.

And it’s not like the talents are lacking.
I refuse to believe that a name
Like Helmut Lang, with the right talent cannot have at least a place in this landscape. Maybe they should go for an European designer…As their current line up of designers is suggesting.

 

[Phuel]

^^^ Shayne is actually more talented than he’s been given credit for, including himself. It’s just unfortunate that instead of concentrating on his solid technical skills, while honing in on his creative skills (and sheesh, did he ever need to learn restraint when it comes to his creative capabilities), he— or maybe it was his PR, went full identity-politics and the designs became so desperately an afterthought while trying so hard to profit from a “cultural movement” into another profitable business venture; his attempt at a return some years ago was that brand of typical liberal college identity-politics cringe that did nothing for his capabilities as a fashion designer. Once out of fashion school, you cannot sustain your professional career on that sort of juvenile student mentality that may have gotten you top marks. The paying consumer does not give a fcuk how well you did in school. Shame really, because Hood by Air was a great sounding brand and looked good as a brand. Too bad the fashions had not a whiff of substance. But Shayne really did possess some creative talent.

And the greatest shame— or greater joke, of all time in fashion history: After Helmut Lang and Jil Sander left their own label, their brands never even came remotely close to what it once was. Helmut was that first love that I’ve learned a long time ago to let go. I still think about him, but I’ve moved on LOL

 

[bc collector]

After Helmut Lang and Jil Sander left their own label, their brands never even came remotely close to what it once was. Helmut was that first love that I’ve learned a long time ago to let go. I still think about him, but I’ve moved on LOL

Agree on Helmut, disagree on Jil. As a diehard Sander fan, I think Raf's tenure (and Van Ommeslaeghe's) was brilliant, they gave new life to the brand, to the point that when Jil was back again she could not keep up with how much it had evolved in her absence.
Helmut Lang is a different story: Fast Retailing should decide if they really want to compete in the designer's arena or not, and if they do, they should do it with more conviction than they have shown so far. Otherwise, they can just keep doing (amazingly well) mass retailing and call it a day.