A resurrection was first attempted in 2007 when it was acquired by Link Theory Holdings (now part of Fast Retailing) from the Prada Group, with Michael and Nicole Colovos hired as creative directors. The design duo has taken the edge off the label and taken it in a more contemporary direction. They left in 2014, with the label managed by an in-house team until Dazed’s then editor-in-chief Isabella Burley was hired as editor-in-residence. Burley enlisted Shayne Oliver, the acclaimed founder of Hood By Air, in 2017 to design a spring 2018 collection, which Oliver heralded as a great collection, if not a true Helmut Lang offering. Mark Thomas and Thomas Cawson followed in 2019 and left after presenting a spring 2020 collection.
Do’s appointment marked the company’s first attempt to tap into its high-fashion beginnings since Oliver’s one-time venture. It was tough. He faced an industry hyper-focused on Lang and his ubiquitous archive, along with an impossible-to-satisfy fan base.
What the industry and followers of OG Helmut Lang failed to recognize in their criticism of Do’s approach – which kept the designer’s archive top of mind – is that the Helmut Lang brand today is not a founder-led enterprise. labelbut a global one brand. Much of what made Helmut Lang unspeakably cool at its peak in the ’90s and 2000s is that it remained one of Lang’s most compelling art projects, as opposed to what it is today: a product- and consumer-oriented fashion brand. Do’s role was to make it function as a brand in the age of viral products, celebrity dressing and It bags, which itself is the antithesis of the Helmut Lang ethos.
Do had continued to work on his eponymous collection, having moved his shows to Paris since joining Helmut Lang. Should he choose to return to NYFW, the city will be happy to have him back.