Helmut Lang (artist)


Helmut Lang is an Austrian artist and former fashion designer who lives and works in New York and on Long Island.

Career

In 1984, Lang closed the shop and two years later showed his first Helmut Lang runway collection in Paris at Centre Georges Pompidou. He showed the first Helmut Lang Men's collection in 1987. In 1997 he moved his label from Vienna to New York.
Lang used unconventional materials such as rubber, feathers and metallic fabrics and redefined the silhouette of the 1990s and early 2000s. He broke away from the runway show-as-spectacle in the height of the 1980s opulence and was the first to stream his collection online.
Lang's brand was known for its utilitarian, minimalist aesthetic, as well as for its prestige range of denim, for which he charged for a premium in the 1990s.
In 1999, Lang sold a 51% stake in his company to the Prada Group, with Prada running distribution and manufacturing and Lang controlling design and advertising. Afterwards, Prada developed a line of Helmut Lang accessories such as shoes, belts and bags, and opened Helmut Lang stores in Hong Kong and Singapore. Sales under the Prada Group fell from $100 million in 1999 to $37 million in 2003. The brand's decision to cancel the licensing for an external company to manufacture and market its profitable range of Helmut Lang Jeans was cited as one of the reasons for its loss in revenue. In 2005 he left his label and retired from fashion. He has since been based in Long Island. In 2006, Prada sold the Helmut Lang brand to Link Theory Holdings.
Lang had collaborated with artists Jenny Holzer and Louise Bourgeois. His recent works explore abstract sculptural forms and physical arrangements and space beyond the limitations of the human body. Lang had his first solo art exhibition ALLES GLEICH SCHWER at the Kestnergesellschaft in Hannover in 2008. Lang has published excerpts from his ongoing art projects Long Island Diaries and The Selective Memory Series in a number of publications, such as BUTT Magazine , Fannzine 137 , Visionaire and most recently The Travel Almanac .

Work

This timeline outlines Helmut Lang's work in fashion and art up until 2011.
Solo Exhibitions
2012Sculptures, Mark Fletcher, New York, NY
2011Make It Hard, The Fireplace Project, East Hampton
2008Alles Gleich Schwer, kestnergesellschaft, Hanover
2008Archive, 032c Museum Store, Berlin
2007Next Ever After, The Journal Gallery, Brooklyn
2007Selective Memory Series, Purple Institute, Paris
1986Viennese Modernism. Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Paris

Group Exhibitions
2011Commercial Break. Venice Biennale, Venice
2011Austria Davaj!. MUAR, Moscow
2010Not in Fashion. MMK Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt
2009Industrial Light Magic. Goethe Institute, New York City
1998Louise Bourgeois. Jenny Holzer. Helmut Lang, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
1997art/fashion, Guggenheim SOHO, New York City
1997I Smell You on My Clothes. Florence Biennale, Florence

Helmut Lang fashion 1977-2005

This timeline outlines the developments in Lang's fashion as well significant attributes of key collections.
, Germany, 2008''

Collections

Helmut Lang's works are part of the following collections:
Original Helmut Lang stores
All of the original Helmut Lang stores have been closed. The last one to close was the Paris location in late 2005. Most of the art-inspired stores had been designed by Lang in collaboration with Gluckman Mayner Architects of New York.
1995
1997
2000
2002
2003
Four different scents were created by Lang in cooperation with Procter & Gamble, all of which were discontinued with the 2005 closing of the brand.