5 Things You Might Not Know About Helmut Lang

On Wednesday, a new era began at Helmut Lang. New York designer Peter Do rose to the brand’s creative director rank, promising to “usher in the next chapter” of the eponymous Austrian designer’s unequivocal legacy — one that shaped fashion, particularly in the ‘90s, with “deconstructionist” and “minimalist” codes.

“No one embodied radical thinking more definitively than Helmut Lang,” said Do. “I am excited to learn from the foundations this house stands on and to continue creating new, energetic clothes that inspire people to challenge their understanding of what is possible when it comes to expressing their individuality.”

But — on the Internet, at least — there is very little written about the “radical thinking” that actually set Lang apart from his colleagues in the ‘90s. His presence was elusive (“It is dangerous to become over-exposed,” he famously said), but his distinctive style codes were an indisputable marker for what — and who — was “cool” at the time. His work went beyond his formal-subversive tailoring; it became a doctrine of the it-factor for the once-punks, then-professionals who were leading the creative industries. At the time, WWD wrote, ​​“If the ’90s belong to anyone, it’s [to] Miuccia Prada and Helmut Lang.”

Lang departed from his label in 2004, leaving fashion behind him for good. Today, he’s an artist based in East Hampton, opting for a private life. Still, though, his legacy, and his name-brand clothing tag, live on in the industry among the most notable.

Now, as Do prepares to reveal his debut collection for Helmut Lang during New York Fashion Week this September, Hypebeast has uncovered five double-take-worthy facts about the label’s namesake designer and his influence on the industry. Revel in the game-changer’s stories, below.

In the ’90s, Lang sent his collections to buyers and press with pairs of Levi’s 501 jeans.

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In the ’90s, Lang would send his designs to press and buyers with a pair of Levi’s 501 jeans, in an effort to showcase how his collections could be worn in real life, according to Daily News Record. A lover of denim, the designer established a cooperative deal with Levi’s, which allowed him to continue to package his latest designs alongside their quintessential jeans.

On denim, Lang told the outlet, “It’s a conventional fabric with an unconventional feeling. Denim serves its purpose perfectly: Denim is jeans.” He added, “Denim should remain original. If I had no commercial constraints, I would work on heavy, indigo-dyed jeans.”

Ultimately, Lang established his own Helmut Lang Jeans line in 1996, with production from his Italian partner GTR Group SpA.

In 1998, Lang was the first designer to show a collection on the Internet.

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Helmut Lang became the first fashion designer to show a line on the Internet, with his fall 1998 collection. The path-forging designer debuted 81 looks through photos and videos posted online and via physical CD-ROMs. Editors were able to peruse the collection on models including Kirsten Owen, Tatjana Patitz and Stefan Armbruster, before visiting Lang’s showroom for an in-person look at the clothes.

“This is a global business, yet the way we communicate is still very old-fashioned in many ways,” the designer told WWD back in 1998. “We’re in the midst of a technological revolution. We all know it, we talk about it, but we have to live it. The most difficult step is just to go for it.”

Lang is the reason that New York designers show first on the Fashion Month calendar.

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Prior to Lang’s move to New York, the fashion month calendar went in this order: Milan, London, Paris, New York. However, when Lang decided to set up shop at 80 Greene Street and subsequently show his collection ahead of the New York season in September 1998, the traditional cycle of shows swiftly changed. The previously scheduled November shows were “just too far back for [his] house,” he told WWD.

Following Lang’s move to show earlier, Donna Karan and Calvin Klein (who was also irked by the timeline) announced that they would follow in his footsteps, and soon after, more designers shifted their schedules to align with the big names. Spring 1999 saw a split New York fashion season, but by Fall (and thereafter) New York Fashion Week was scheduled first.

In 2000, Lang was the first non-American designer to win the CFDA’s Menswear Designer of the Year award.

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In 2000, Lang became the first non-American designer to take home the Menswear Designer of the Year trophy from the CFDA Awards, beating out nominees Kenneth Cole and Marc Jacobs. He was also nominated for two additional awards: Womenswear Designer of the Year, alongside Donna Karan and Oscar de la Renta, as well as Accessories Designer of the Year.

He was able to qualify for all three leading categories, as he had opened his New York shop, though he was still going between Paris and New York for shows, in the early aughts. “I’m very honored and very pleased,” Lang said to WWD. “It’s a great late welcome to New York.”

In 2010, Lang destroyed 6,000 designs from his archives to signify his departure from the fashion industry and his transition into a career as an artist.

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After a 2010 fire in Soho destroyed much of Lang’s fashion archive, the designer took an industrial shredder to the roughly 6,000 designs that made it out alive. While a fashion lover’s worst nightmare, Lang’s intention was to rework the fragments of his past life as a designer into his new world as an artist. He took the leftover bits and crafted a series of 16 columns for his solo show at East Hampton’s The Fireplace Project, titled Make It Hard, the following year.

“I was very serious about art, and I didn’t want to be the goalkeeper of my former legacy. So they had to go,” he told Wall Street Journal. “I don’t like to throw things away, but I also have the ability to end chapters of my life. I’m schlepping my life around, which is a good thing, but I’m not schlepping all my possessions.”