Helmut Lang (fashion brand)

The Helmut Lang fashion brand was created by Austrian fashion designer Helmut Lang (born 1956) in 1986. Lang was known for his minimalist, deconstructivist, and often severe designs. The Helmut Lang brand still exists today, but has been carried on without Mr. Lang's involvement since 2005.

The Helmut Lang brand became famous in the late 1980s for its simple but refined designs, its slim suits in black or white, its denim collection, and the use of high-tech fabrics. Mr. Lang eventually took the opportunity of his label's growing success and moved his company's headquarters to New York City in 1997. Helmut Lang fashions were sold in upscale department stores and through select retailers, as well as in signature Helmut Lang stores around the world. In 1999, Lang entered into a partnership with Prada Group which resulted in the acquisition of the Helmut Lang brand by Prada in 2004, and Mr. Lang's departure from the label in 2005. Prada, however, struggled with the brand and consequently sold it to Link Theory of Japan in 2006. Link Theory then re-launched the Helmut Lang label with new designers in 2007.

The label

Lang, a fashion autodidact, set up a made-to-measure fashion studio in Vienna in 1977 and opened a boutique named "Bou Bou Lang" there in 1979, at the age of 23. His clothes were fairly successful in his native Austria, and, after a fair exhibition of his clothes at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, initiated by the Austrian government, he branched out successfully to Paris in 1986 and created the label "Helmut Lang". He eventually withdrew from Paris and returned to Vienna in the late 1980s.

At this time in the late 1980s and early 1990s, minimalist fashion was at its height. His clothes were made with very sharp lines and careful cuts, creating basic but extremely elegant silhouettes in high quality and often high-tech fabrics. Lang's favorite colors were black and white. His slim men's suits were a favorite among fashionable advertising managers and other creatives of the time. He was compared to Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto for his sometimes austere, intellectual designs.

New York City

Lang moved to New York in 1997 and subsequently set up his company's headquarters in 80 Greene St. in SoHo in 1998. In New York, he decided in April 1998, three days before his designs were to be presented to a New York audience for the first time, to show his collection through a live internet broadcast to the world, via the newly created company's web site. As a first in the fashion industry, ads for the brand could be seen on New York taxi tops in 1998. [http://www.radicaladvertising.de/request.php?f_categoryId=8&f_articleId=579&PHPSESSID=43c49432dd32bcd361c75fea21325ea2] The following season he announced to show his collections not only before New York Fashion Week, but also before the Milan and Paris runway shows. As a result, with many American designers following suit, New York Fashion Week was permanently moved up six weeks to herald the established runway shows. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/fashion/thursdaystyles/26helmut.html?pagewanted=print Helmut Lang - New York Times ] ] From 2000 on, unconventional print ads for the brand were placed with "National Geographic" magazine. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/fashion/thursdaystyles/26helmut.html Helmut Lang - "New York Times" ] ]

Helmut Lang fashion

Throughout the years, both a women's and men's line existed, kept under a single name and always presented in one fashion show. Underwear (1995) and jeans (1996) lines as well as accessories, such as footwear (1990) and fragrances (1999) were launched, but otherwise the brand was kept unified to solidify its identity and strength.

The runway show venues for the Helmut Lang label were switched from Paris (until 1998) to New York by Mr. Lang and back again to Paris by Prada (from 2002 to 2005). The collections/presentations used to be called " _fr. séances de travail" ("working sessions") by Mr. Lang.

Prada partnership

In 1999, Milan-based fashion house Prada acquired 51% of the Helmut Lang company in the course of a multi-brand strategy, which also included the acquisition of German fashion label Jil Sander.

Despite the quality of the clothes and the slight revival of minimalist fashion in the early 2000s, the Helmut Lang brand did not fare well. Prada fatefully decided to cancel the Helmut Lang Jeans license, which had been responsible for more than half of the brand's sales, and intended to develop an in-house accessories line. But neither the new accessories, nor the fragrances, proved a large success. Mr. Lang is said to have insisted that one of his colognes be produced when a test study by the manufacturer-to-be, Procter & Gamble, strongly suggested modifying the scent. After alleged disputes with Prada Group's CEO Patrizio Bertelli on how the brand should be continued, and after Mr. Lang had sold his remaining shares to Prada in October 2004, he left his own label in January 2005. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/24/business/worldbusiness/24prada.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1214699866-GbfGifKaXICwpnhASEd0pg&oref=slogin "The New York Times": Helmut Lang said to leave Prada in the latest industry departure] [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/25/fashion/25lang.html "The New York Times": Question for Prada: Now What?] [http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/daily/2005-01/050120-has-helmut-gone-.aspx Vogue.co.uk: Has Helmut gone?] ] Lang joined the growing number of designer departures, including Jil Sander from her own label at Prada and Tom Ford from Gucci. However, Mr. Lang has publicly maintained that he had "no problem" with Mr. Bertelli. [ [http://www.booknoise.net/johnseabrook/stories/design/lang/index.html John Seabrook | Stories | The Invisible Designer: Helmut Lang ] ]

After Mr. Lang's departure, Prada unsuccessfully tried to continue the collections with an in-house design team. In March 2005, Prada closed down the label's headquarters in SoHo, New York. In September 2005, Prada announced that production of the lines had been halted. By the end of 2005, all that existed of the brand was its name: the design atelier had been closed, the collections had been discontinued and all of the art-inspired Helmut Lang stores had been shut down (with the exception of the Paris location, to sell remaining stock). The corporate web site, which formerly displayed pictures of the collections, remained online, but its contents could no longer be seen.

Acquisition by Link Theory

On March 17, 2006, Prada Group announced that, after six loss-making years, Link Theory Holdings (LTH) of Tokyo would be acquiring the Helmut Lang brand for an estimated €20 million. This came about three weeks after Prada had sold the Jil Sander label to British equity firm Change Capital Partners (CCP). Already in spring 2005, it had been rumored that Prada was trying to sell the label. Prada Group was said to want to concentrate on its core labels, Prada and Miu Miu, again. The Japanese holding company LTH, developer of the theory fashion label in Japan and the US, re-launched the Helmut Lang collections under the direction of a "suitable" designer for the spring/summer 2007 season (presented in fall 2006), in select boutiques worldwide as a "contemporary brand". [ [http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13133-2091406,00.html Prada sells Helmut Lang to Japanese - Times Online ] ] The new label was said to be based out of New York City. LTH also owns profitable German fashion house Rosner, which it bought in late October 2005, as well as the Joie, PLS+T and Kulson labels. [ [http://wrightreports.ecnext.com/coms2/reportdesc_COMPANY_C392VU800 Link Theory Holdings Company Ltd Company Profile - 3373 JAPAN Market Size, Market Share and Demand Forecast ] ]

Rumor had it for a while that Russian-born designer Alexandre Plokhov of menswear label Cloak, a former men's pattern maker for fashion house Marc Jacobs, and winner of the 2005 Swarovski's Perry Ellis Award for Emerging Talent Menswear, might be the new designer for Helmut Lang. It was never, though, expected that Lang himself would return to the label that bears his name, although Chikara Sasake, president and chief executive of LTH, gave to understand that if Lang "wants to come back, the door is always open". [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/03/20/reports/flang.php Helmut Lang's new theory - International Herald Tribune ] ]

Helmut Lang brand re-launch

In May 2006, it was announced that Michael and Nicole Colovos, an American-New Zealand designer couple, who formerly had their own Los Angeles-based denim label "Habitual", had been installed by Link Theory as creative directors for the new Helmut Lang brand. From February 2007, select upscale retailers such as Barneys or Bergdorf Goodman started to carry the spring/summer 2007 Helmut Lang contemporary sportswear collection. The design office has been set up in West Chelsea in New York. The collection, described as "a commercial reduction of [Mr. Lang's] fashion identity", [ [http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?id=3418613 A new Helmut line, of sorts - Print Version - International Herald Tribune ] ] has received quite favorable reviews even though it is clearly not seen as a continuation of the original line. The item prices in the collection are about 20% above those for comparable theory items and, hence, below the original Helmut Lang prices. Link Theory expects to generate US$ 8 million in revenues in 2008, and make a profit in 2009 with the label. [ [http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto040420060736423301 FT.com - Link Theory sets turnround goals for Helmut Lang ] ] The company also announced that "over the long term" they intend "to also establish exclusive Helmut Lang shops" in the US, Europe and Japan. [ [http://www.link-theory.com/resources/3326/20061020IRPR-En.pdf LTH FY06 Press Release ] ]

The Helmut Lang web site was re-activated at the end of 2006 and was fully launched in spring 2007. Mr. Lang, who now resides on Long Island of independent means, is said not to be involved in the label's re-launch in any way.

Helmut Lang stores

Original stores (until 2005)

All of the original, art-inspired signature Helmut Lang stores that existed in Vienna, Munich, Milan, Paris, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo, as well as several stores-in-store in the Asian market, that existed between 1995 and 2005 have been closed. The last one to close was the Paris location in 2005 to sell remaining stock.

New stores (after 2007)

In March 2007, Link Theory opened the first post-Prada signature Helmut Lang store in Tokyo's fashionable Aoyama district. In Japan, the company has since then installed several Helmut Lang stores-in-store at local department stores. In August 2007, a new freestanding Helmut Lang store was opened on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. [ [http://www.link-theory.com/en_US/news_46.htm Link Theory - Newly opened stores August 2007] ] It is, after the Tokyo store, the second signature Helmut Lang store since the closing of the last original store in Paris. The store, in close proximity to Melrose Place, is adjacent to an existing theory store at 8424 Melrose Avenue. Another Helmut Lang store opened on September 28, 2007 on Maiden Lane in San Francisco, in the building previously occupied by Jil Sander. [ [http://kimair.blogspot.com/2007/07/new-doors.html J'adore Couture Blog: New Doors] [http://blogs.wsj.com/runway/2007/09/10/after-three-year-hiatus-helmut-lange-hits-the-runway/ The Wall Street Journal: After Three Year Hiatus, Helmut Lang Hits the Runway] ] However, in April 2008, this store was converted into a theory store. In New York City, a temporary 'pop-up shop' opened in mid-December 2007, while the company is apparently looking for a larger location in the Meatpacking District. [ [http://www.theshophound.typepad.com//the_shophound/2007/12/the-return-of-h.html The Shophound: The Return of Helmut Lang-ish] [http://thefashioninformer.typepad.com/informer/2007/12/hello-helmut-la.html The Fashion Informer: Hello, Helmut: Lang Opens Store in MPD] ] May 08, 2008 saw the opening of a Helmut Lang outlet store at Woodbury Common Premium Outlets in New York. [ [http://www.link-theory.com/en_US/news_72.htm Link Theory - Newly opened stores in May 2008] ]

Original fragrances

Three different perfumes were associated with the Helmut Lang label, produced in cooperation with Procter & Gamble, all of which were discontinued with the closing of the original brand in 2005.
*Helmut Lang (women's) - 2000
*Helmut Lang Pour Homme - 2001
*Helmut Lang Cuiron (men's) - 2002

A re-launch of the now discontinued Cuiron For Men cologne is set for the Fall of 2008 by Link Theory Holdings under the brand of Helmut Lang. Procter & Gamble will be the producer of this new Cuiron cologne, as they were for the original 2002 version.Fact|date=June 2008

External links

* [http://www.helmutlang.com Official Helmut Lang website]
* [http://www.link-theory.com/en_US Link Theory Holdings]
* [http://www.theory.com/ Official "theory" web site]
* [http://www.style.com/fashionshows/collections/S2008RTW/complete/thumb/HLANG Helmut Lang womens collection spring/summer 2008 on style.com]
* [http://www.style.com/fashionshows/collections/2009RST/complete/thumb/HLANG Helmut Lang womens resort collection 2009 on style.com]
* [http://men.style.com/fashion/collections/S2008MEN/complete/thumb/HLMEN Helmut Lang mens collection spring/summer 2008 on style.com]

References

ources

* [http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto040420060736423301 "Link Theory sets turnround goals for Helmut Lang" (Financial Times)]
* [http://www.link-theory.com/resources/3326/20061020IRPR-En.pdf "Link-Theory fiscal year 2006 report" (Link-Theory)]
* [http://mobile.iht.com/articles/2006/11/06/style/flang.xhtml "A new Helmut line, of sorts" (International Herald Tribune)]
* [http://www.link-theory.com/resources/2567/06May-WWD.pdf WWD: "Helmut Lang taps new designers" (Link-Theory)]
* [http://news.yahoo.com/s/fwd/20060317/en_fashion_fwd/prada_to_flog_helmut_lang_to_link_theory_holdings Fashion Wire Daily: "Prada to Flog Helmut Lang to Link Theory Holdings" (Yahoo News)]
* [http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/03/20/reports/flang.php "Helmut Lang's new theory" (International Herald Tribune)]