Helmut Lang SS24

Peter Do's debut for the brand.

Peter Do had a lot riding on his debut collection for Helmut Lang. Stepping into the shoes of Mr. Lang almost two decades after he departed his own namesake brand and the entire fashion industry is no easy feat. Since Lang’s exit in 2005 the label has seen a slew of creative directors who have failed to capture the subversive elegance that would define an entire generation of cool kids in the nineties. 

For the SS24 collection Do leaned into the tailoring that helped make Lang into a household name. Androgynous style suiting with clean lines and silhouettes cinched with car seat belt straps criss-crossed across the torso – a nod to Lang’s bondage references in a more wearable fashion. Flat-fronted boy pants, immaculately tailored jackets and Crombie coats hit the runway with more casual, grungier pieces such as white tanks, cropped, cut-out knits and utilitarian jumpsuits and button-downs. 

Do also referenced Lang’s famous taxi cab advertising for the show, much to the delight of New York’s finest fashion crowd. Do partnered with Vietnamese-American poet and author Ocean Vuong for his first SS24 Helmut Lang collection. Vuong laments the safety of driving in cars, particularly for queer people. Vuong’s words were plastered on vests, dress shirts and on the floor of the runway. 

The collection was successful in ushering in a new, more attainable and long-lasting era of Helmut Lang. The founding designer’s presence has long been missed – don’t worry you can still catch him making art in Long Island – and Do was careful not to mimic Lang’s work, instead choosing to make flourishes in Lang’s well-treaded paths of tailoring and androgynous fits, and playful approach to proportions.

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