Helmut Lang: Designing City Wear Standards
By Mari Davis & Michelle Taylor
Photos by Javier Mateo

PARIS, Mar 4, 2004/ FW/ – Austrian born Helmut Lang is truly a stride ahead of his competitors as an urban master, his women deal with life head on and dress fabulously while they do it.

This is a collection that sets designing city wear standards, and probably others are already asking what they will need to do to catch up on multi skilled Lang; could it be that they may need to possibly look to their heritage, move to another continent, or work on their cutting skills? Whatever the answer, they had better hurry up.

Slim silhouettes, being his trademark, are the key to this fall 2004/05 modern wardrobe. His women are purebred ponies, lean and confident; they prance in trousers tailored to a tee and alternate special shearling jackets in blue, purple and black.

Lang’s cuts are sharp and seemingly simple making mini jackets almost trench like through flaps and lapels, when really they are studied and precise. Bronzed leather is a treat as three models wearing jackets that went from short to long to longer followed one another closely matched with black pants, accentuating colour all the more.

Torsos are elongated by tying sash-like belts around the waist and keeping his silhouettes lean and straight. Layering and mini jackets catch they eyes attention and shift it higher, making the focal point on the body higher than what it usually is.

Knitwear is innovative as dresses, skirts and sweaters are patterned and layered, hemlines balloon out from behind and then attached back up to meet the neck creating modern day wonder women capes.

Details are essential and decisive hinting at Hungarian and Austrian bohemian influence. Lace appears under hemlines of dresses and out of tops of long over the knee boots. Horsehair is brilliantly used as decoration out of the back of heels that everyone will want, and as decoration on jackets from collars to shoulders.

Evenings are reserved for full-length tube and transparency column sheer dresses in blue, black and white, graphic yet flowingly revealing and sexy while earrings are welcomed to the usually bare necessity catwalk for Lang.

A metrosexual Manhattan collection where urban becomes chic and is always a stylish.

Helmut Lang

Helmut Lang

Helmut Lang

Helmut Lang