Helmut Lang's New Modern Army
By Melanie Rickey
Photos by Gruber-FWD
PARIS, Oct 5, 2002/ FWD/ --- It was a classic Helmut Lang collection.
Entitled The New Wave, the designer subtitled his show (as is his wont) "Vive La Modernite,
Le Jour, La Nuit, Le Jour."
Long live modernity, for day, for night, for day.
In doing so he slammed his stake firmly into the ground before the show even began.
His statement: modernity, progressive styling, layering, structure, deconstruction,
exploration, action, practicality, sensuality and fun - in a hard-edged urban kinda way,
of course.
It's easy to guess at the mind work and philosophizing that went into this collection before
Lang put pencil to sketch-pad.
As a designer he is not one for fancy statements. He is not a vintage pastiche artist, he
is not a designer who wishes to clothe a fantasy; his domain is reality.
He loves to address the desires of his clientele and nudge them into new territory by
giving them what they want and more.
Hence his obvious desire to present a collection low on frivolity, and high on modernity
in the truest sense.
It was a brave choice.
So, onto the clothes.
At a fast and furious pace Lang presented his synonymous silhouette with, as usual, the
slim super-long tuck-around-the-spike-heel pant (this time with the internal pocket structure
presented on the outside), the skinny shouldered car coat which stops at the thigh,
tank t-shirts, and t-shirt dresses, and sporty jackets forming the core of the look.
But what went on within that silhouette was rather revolutionary.
Helmut sliced into those carcoats - big chevron stripes across the arm and into the body -
and filled the space with orange rubber and fishnet, or black rubber and mesh.
He added swathes or rubber to the bottom of his pants, and added asymmetric rubber belts
to the top of his high-waist pants that looped up around the ribcage.
His t-shirts had more going on within and around them than a tank full of hungry piranhas.
Helmut was having fun.
Fun clothes for Helmut are pieces you can play with, not in a girlie way, but in a useful,
sporty way so zippers, straps, stretch panels, rubber bands, and thick arm cuffs were a few
of the add-ons to accessorize the basics, and there was plenty of sporty '80s-inspired
layering going on.
He also made use of what he called "Chinatown nylon mesh", the crispy checked fabric used
for market trader hold-alls, which appeared as jackets and skirts.
Evening dresses were few and far between, but when they appeared - one in a silver sequin
mesh, another constructed of black zippers the message was strictly modern cocktail hour.
This collection was a standout for Lang, in that he was sticking to his strong beliefs in
how he believes modern women should approach dress.
And he knew it: whether everyone else will see it his way is another thing.
Yohji Yamamoto sat front row in his little red trilby, nodding his approval.
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