The Moment no. 01: A Rousing Debut at Helmut Lang
September 8, 2023
Yesterday Peter Do revealed his Spring/Summer 2024 collection for Helmut Lang—his first as the brand’s creative director. It’s no secret, this was one of the most anticipated shows on the season’s calendar. Peter Do, who has kept his namesake line (and will be showing in Paris later this season) has been one of the newer more provocative designers to emerge these past few seasons. He doesn’t give many interviews, preferring instead to keep a relatively low-profile, and you’d be hard-pressed to even find a photo of him. In this age of social media everything, it’s truly one of the most refreshing, and—if done deliberately and correctly—smartest tactics a young designer could take to capture his audience’s curiosity and attention, redirecting it instead onto the work. And his work is terrific: exacting, gorgeously-tailored, and thoughtful. He makes clothes you want to wear, which is why he was such an exciting choice to take over Helmut Lang. The beloved New York City brand has had a couple of false starts these past few years, and though its fans are legion and almost cultishly-devoted, they love it too much to bear the idea of it failing under anyone’s watch. Given Do’s track record, most of us were justifiably rooting for him.
By the end of the show and its finale—an exhilarating crescendo of criss-crossing bodies that brought to mind a crowd of New Yorkers traversing a plaza in varying directions—my face hurt from smiling. If I had only a handful of words to describe what made it just so damn good: ‘cool,’ ‘energy,’ ‘wardrobe’ all come to mind. I wanted nearly every piece, they were just so cohesively perfect, and yet one doesn’t need every single item for the sake of achieving the new Lang look. A single piece could just as easily assimilate into one’s existing closet to be styled with any number of things: those perfectly-cut straight leg trousers that sit neither too high, nor too low on the hip; the crisp khaki button-downs, that could work under suiting, or sleeves rolled-up with denim; the sleeveless tees, and “backwards” white button-down shirts bearing Ocean Vuong quotes. Even the sharp suiting, with its seatbelt-inspired slashes of bright fuchsia and yellow didn’t read as fussy, but rather supremely cool for the way it contextualized notions of uniform dressing according to the dresser. The same suit conjured up notions of crossing guards, hotel porters, and even dignitaries attending an official state function.
The collection, the insinuation of what’s ahead for the brand and the feeling of great possibility—it’s exciting!—gave me hope for something similar to happen at Calvin Klein and Donna Karan, two distinctly NYC labels whose namesake founders are also alive and well, but no longer involved with the brands. Obviously there are major differences in their levels of commercialness (Calvin Klein being the greatest), but at its core—the reason Calvin Klein ever grew into some so recognized and commercial in the first place—is something that hit upon a collective nerve. I’m longing for that kind of connection again.