Helmut Lang, mythical claw from the 90s, is reborn in New York

Last night was the scene of a new impetus for the Helmut Lang brand, beloved in the 90s and silent for some time. The spring-summer 2018 collection was taken in hand by the American designer Shayne Oliver, founder of the Hood By Air label, presented last night at New York fashion week.

A long-awaited collection, operating a perfect mix between the DNA of the brand and the touch of Shayne Oliver. His creations are full of references to the Austrian designer's old collections: black and white, satin, lamé (in an orange version, more flashy), deconstruction, and the required small dose of provocativeness expected from a designer as rebellious as the founder of Hood By Air, a mid-street, mid-club brand known for its clever mix of genres. This first collection for Helmut Lang mixes couture and the street, the effervescence of the night (jumpsuit in unstructured strapped leather) and the rigor of the day (tailors with impeccable cuts). With its dose of ultra-desirable shock pieces: we can already sense the excitement aroused by the various handbags seen on the show, with special mention to the bra bag.

A genius silenced

It was time for the Helmut Lang brand, a legendary brand from the 90s, to rise from its ashes. A figurehead of the anti-fashion movement, the brand's creations are in line with the work of the "Antwerp Six" (this group of graduates from the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts, including Dries Van Noten and Anne Demeulemeester) or the Japanese Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto, who arrived in Paris a decade earlier.

But Helmut Lang is unclassifiable. The term “minimalist”, which has so often been attributed to him, is not enough for him. His vision stands out. In addition to being a total break with the ultra-colorful flashiness characteristic of the 80s, it is ahead of its time. From 1987, he paraded men and women at the same time, systematically integrating the t-shirt into his collections. His way of communicating is surprisingly modern: his advertisements are seen on the roofs of New York taxis. In the fall of 1998, he took over the Internet to broadcast his show and launched his website in the process. Very early in his career, he surrounded himself with the artistic elite: the visual artist Jenny Holzer, the photographer Juergen Teller, and even the artist Louise Bourgeois, who created a collection of silver choker necklaces for him. Their friendship and collaboration will last for several years.

Latex and burnt jeans

His silhouettes, although often described as refined, are bold and avant-garde. Helmut Lang is fond of technical fabrics, likes wet aspects, paper texture and excessive transparency (he dares silhouettes all in tulle or organza). Latex tops, tuxedo with fluorescent stripes, holographic reflections: the Austrian designer works on shine, but empties it of its girly dimension. He made nude an essential color and designed collections that were almost entirely white. In 1998, his famous burnt jeans and his signature parka were born. From the early 2000s, sportswear influences emerge from its silhouettes: zipped sweatshirts, elastane, plastic clip clasps. Once again, Helmut Lang is far ahead of his comrades.

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In 2005, this fashion monument quietly bowed out after disagreements with the Prada group, the majority shareholder of its brand. Helmut Lang disappeared from the landscape some time later (not without a trace) to devote himself to his life as an artist, somewhere between Long Island and New York.

The heirs: Loewe, Balenciaga, Off-White

Among his collections from the 2000s, nothing belongs to the past. Going through the photos and archives, you can see that the entire industry is continually inspired by his work. That no look is actually out of date. The transparent plastic pants seen at Loewe last year echo a 2005 collection. In 1999, he paired white working girl dresses with fuchsia tights – tights found at Balenciaga last season. Finally, it's hard not to grasp the reference when seeing the lamé gray jackets designed by Virgil Abloh at Off-White fall/winter 2017.

Helmut Lang understood very early on the legitimacy of older men and women on the catwalk, beyond any buzz strategy. In particular, he paraded the photographer Elfie Semotan, at the time in his fifties.

Helmut Lang by Shayne Oliver

After many changes within the house and a takeover by the Japanese group Link Theory, Andrew Rosen, new director of Helmut Lang, has chosen to venture off the beaten track. Instead of hiring a new designer, he brings in Isabella Burley, editor-in-chief of British magazine Dazed & Confused. An expert in young creation and promising labels, Isabella Burley quickly turned to the American designer Shayne Oliver, the first name of the Helmut Lang Residency, a project inviting various fashion designers to reinterpret the brand's universe.

Creator of the Hood By Air label launched in 2006, Shayne Oliver designs clothes in tune with the upheavals of our time. He likes to decompartmentalize and marry seemingly contradictory influences: excessive logos and Gothic inspirations, surreal cowboy boots and flowing silver pants. Disruptive and mocking, he sends his smartphone models to the podium. Distraught before this reversal of roles, the public lowers its cameras for a while. Shayne Oliver breaks away from preconceived ideas about gender (he attended the Harvey Milk School, renowned for having created the first school curriculum specifically devoted to homosexual, bisexual and transgender students). At home, the men wear slit skirts and assume hyper-transparency.

Between audacity and precision: two modern designers

If you look closely, the connection with Helmut Lang is quite logical. If Shayne Oliver is more extravagant than his elder, the two creators have in common this deep understanding of their time, this uninhibited audacity. Many creations signed Hood By Air echo those of the Austrian designer. The color palette, this way of working the suit to make it a sharp piece, the zipped pants, the translucent textiles.

Interviewed by W magazine, Isabella Burley recounts the enthusiasm of Shayne Oliver at the announcement of this collaboration: “When I phoned him about this project, he told me ‘Helmut Lang is mother. He is mother to me! “A reaction perfectly in line with the mixture of genres that characterizes him.