Helmut Lang

This Austrian designer is, unfortunately, rather underappreciated and underrecognized in the USA.

And now, the interview...

"In a world of hysterics and hyperbole, Helmut Lang is fashion's quiet achiever. From his headquarters in hometown Vienna the 39 year old Austrian designer consistently produces mens' and womens' collections that are as influential as they are hard to find. The in-crowd's designer-of-choice, Lang remains determinedly out. Not for him the air-kissing theatrics of the Paris fashion set. Yet each season it's Lang's collection that is most closely watched. His first Paris show in 1986 was dismissed as too harsh, too minimal. Even worse, too intellectual. But soon his pared-down synthetic aesthetic had taken fashion by storm. When the deconstructionists pulled fashion apart, Lang was acknowledged as their spiritual leader. And, ironically, when glam slammed its way back onto every glossy page, it was a somewhat bewildered Helmut who was hailed as the harbinger of a new look. Yet Helmut Lang's work has changed very little over this past decade of production. Manipulating what he sees as the basic elements of style - form, fabric and colour - he creates cool, confident collections that are nothing if not thoroughly modern. When, last season, the misnamed 'minimalist man' seemed to start dabbling in natural fibres, the fashion press heralded a quiet revolution. Yet Lang, in true form, can't understand all the fuss.

Helmut, your emphasis last season on classical fabrics like satin and tweed caught the fashion press off guard. This season you seem to have gone even softer...

Yes, that's right. In the last Autumn-Winter season, what being called 'minimalism' had become the common label stuck on every kind of simple design. It was becoming such a major trend. Once things become so widespread, it is necessary to look for a new border to reach. I kept my own style, the shapes I have used for many years, but I wanted to give them a new sensibility, a new sensuality. I wanted to relax the whole attitude.

Tell me about this 'new sensibility'...

There is really a need for a new sensuality, a new sensibility. It's not exactly softness, but it has something to do almost with romance and love. And not being afraid of romance and love, especially when everything is going so fast, becoming so hard. So egocentric.

Are you feeling romantic Helmut?

Maybe! It's about being not afraid, being able to live these different needs and different moods.

You used lace this season, as opposed to your trademark rubberized lace...

Exactly. But we also used new transparent printing techniques, then layered classical lace over to give a very new structure.

Are you using fewer industrial fabrics, then, or just using them in different ways?

There is less stress on the overworked 'industrial' fabrics in this collection. We had been doing it for so long, and again, it was becoming so widespread. And this new kind of 'sensibility' I've been looking for has a lot to do with how to put things together, and in which contexts you place things.

You were always convinced that synthetic fabrics were of our time. Do you now feel that you've made your point and can move on, keeping the silhouettes and the shapes that you have established?

I have always thought you could use both natural and synthetic, and I have always used both very traditional and very modern fabrics. The way they are put together, the combinations, vary from season to season. It depends on the mood I'm in, on the attitude of the collection. There are still a lot of synthetic fabrics this season, but they have been used in a less apparent way. They were used in a way to highlight the sensitive side of modern fabrics. It all depends on what you want to express.

What do you think is happening in fashion now?

It has gone very mainstream, almost amoral. Everything is permitted, for everybody, and this is not doing fashion any favours.

You mean the standards are no longer there, it's promiscuous?

I think the standards of quality are blurred. Not just in fashion, but in art as well. We're living in a time that shows little respect for people's work. It all moves too quick, nobody has time to breathe. Fashion is going too fast, and identities are being too quickly mainstreamed by the whole fashion business.

As a designer, can you try to slow it down?

Not really. It's like a whole movement, as one designer you can't influence it. The only thing you can do, and what in fact lead to our success last season, is take another step in the next direction. It forces you to be very aware. You don't need the additional pressure, but it's good in one way.

Is this 'natural' thing going to keep on?

You never say, 'okay, this is the direction I want to take in the next few years'. It's something you can't say anymore because time is too fast. We do what we have to do, so this is how we believe it should be done. But I'm not so connected to this time, so I'm going to follow what I think is right, regardless.

I felt that somehow it was time to move away from the overexposure of interesting fabrics, to another sensibility. We just evolved it in a way that we are really happy with. And I'm sure we're going to continue it, but with a surprise every season, and with the right step every season. I always connect what do in design with what I think also covers the emotional needs of people. I know that people want to look good, and should look good, in clothes. But at the same time, they want to feel good, and they want to express something. And you definitely have the chance to define yourself with what you wear.

Do you ever see your clothes on people and think 'oh my god! what's going on'?

That can always happen! But that's okay. What's interesting with working in fashion is that your work is always interpreted. In so many incredible ways, but that's okay, it's part of the whole thing.

Compared to works or art, where the context changes, but the work remains the same, each time clothes are worn they have to adapt to a personality or a situation. Do you ever think of that as you're making them?

Yeah, of course. I think about this in a certain way. But on the other hand you have to leave that idea aside, and just make the piece. And then the piece gets another context. It does take the personality of the wearer, and that's one of the aspects of fashion. That's why you try to always be connected to what's going on at the moment, to certain feelings and emotions, and bring these needs into fashion. This has nothing to do with 'from the streets to the runway', it has more to do with some inner needs. It's a more soulful thing, not just a matter of 'this looks great, let's do it!"

Do you have a wearer in mind?

No, never. Because there are so many wearers with so many different personalities.

So, you don't think of Linda each time you settle down to design a dress?

No, I think I'm more interested in the mood of the moment, and then somehow from this mood you know why it has to be matte and not shiny, why it has to be traditional and not futuristic, or why it has to be exactly the opposite. And this is not really totally explainable. I mean, you can explain everything, but it makes no sense. You can give a good quote, but it's just a soundbite for the media.

Do you still believe in the importance of technology in design?

Definitely. But it doesn't mean a techno look, and it doesn't mean constant, or a formula. And it doesn't mean to the exclusion of everything else.

That allows you to escape this pigeonholing of Helmut Lang as 'futurist' or 'minimalist'...

Right. All this stuff about 'futurism', 'minimalism'...people always try to over-exaggerate things. Because in the media world it's sometimes necessary. But the risk is that things become over-exaggerated and then they are not right. So, I definitely don't want to get involved in this kind of over-exposure in the wrong direction.

The media also tend to think in terms of that which already exists, rather than looking for new ways of understanding...

Exactly. This is the problem. There is too much cross-referencing, and sometimes it's something that cannot be explained by reference to something else. You know, it's not a futurist, or techno, or traditional, it's maybe just a subtle mixture of different things. That's how we live now. We have our traditional needs, and we have our emotional needs. We live in a very connected time. We talk a lot about the future, but we live there already.

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