Identity area
Reference code
2019.28
Title
Helmut Lang Re Edition Silver Padded Astro Moto Jacket
Date(s)
- 2017 (Creation)
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
2 (jacket and detachable webbing strap)
Context area
Name of creator
(1986–present)
Administrative history
Self-taught Austrian designer Helmut Lang (b. 1956) showed his first womenswear collection in Paris in 1986, followed by his debut menswear line in 1987. From 1988 both men’s and women’s collections were shown together on the runway. Lang is widely credited as being the pioneer of the rise of designer denim with the launch of Helmut Lang Jeans for Spring Summer 1997, which were produced under licence by GTR Group SpA and distributed by Onward Kashiyama USA Inc. In 1997 the company moved its headquarters from Austria to New York and started showing at New York Fashion Week. In April 1998 Lang became the first designer to debut their collection online rather than a traditional runway show. The collection consisted of a fifteen-minute video and photographs of eighty-one looks which could be viewed online at helmutlangny.com. Selected fashion editors were also sent a CD-ROM.
In 1999, with sales of around €100 million, Prada acquired 51 per cent of the Helmut Lang company. By 2003 sales had dropped to €27.7 million; however, Prada bought the remaining 49 per cent of the company in 2004 and Lang exited his eponymous label in 2005. Prada sold the company to Japanese company Link Theory Holdings in 2006, who appointed Nicole and Michael Colovos as the new creative directors for the brand. After eight years, the duo left Helmut Lang in February 2014. Rather than appoint a new creative director, the company appointed Isabella Burley, then editor of Dazed & Confused magazine, to the new post of editor-in-residence in 2017, and Shayne Oliver of Hood by Air as its first guest designer. In January 2018 Burley was replaced by Alix Browne, founding editor of V Magazine, together with Mark Howard Thomas as creative director of menswear. Browne left in January 2019 and Thomas in October 2019. Thomas Cawson was then creative director until April 2020. In May 2023, Peter Do was appointed creative director of the brand. In 2010 Helmut Lang personally donated his archive to twelve museums worldwide, including MAK in Vienna, Austria and the Fashion Museum, Bath, England.
Sources: Booknoise.net; New Vision; The New York Times; WWD.
In 1999, with sales of around €100 million, Prada acquired 51 per cent of the Helmut Lang company. By 2003 sales had dropped to €27.7 million; however, Prada bought the remaining 49 per cent of the company in 2004 and Lang exited his eponymous label in 2005. Prada sold the company to Japanese company Link Theory Holdings in 2006, who appointed Nicole and Michael Colovos as the new creative directors for the brand. After eight years, the duo left Helmut Lang in February 2014. Rather than appoint a new creative director, the company appointed Isabella Burley, then editor of Dazed & Confused magazine, to the new post of editor-in-residence in 2017, and Shayne Oliver of Hood by Air as its first guest designer. In January 2018 Burley was replaced by Alix Browne, founding editor of V Magazine, together with Mark Howard Thomas as creative director of menswear. Browne left in January 2019 and Thomas in October 2019. Thomas Cawson was then creative director until April 2020. In May 2023, Peter Do was appointed creative director of the brand. In 2010 Helmut Lang personally donated his archive to twelve museums worldwide, including MAK in Vienna, Austria and the Fashion Museum, Bath, England.
Sources: Booknoise.net; New Vision; The New York Times; WWD.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The jacket has a wide circular collar which drops low at the front, stiffened around the edge with wire. The front of the collar closes with a velcro tab, which lifts the front of the collar upwards, and the wire keeps the back folded down. There is a pull chord which runs around the neck. The centre front closes with a zip and is covered with a facing. Each side has two zip pockets, one placed slanted into the body. There is a velcro tab on the waistband which can fasten both forward and backward which sits above a double ended zip that runs around the waistband. The top sleeve is in four sections, with top stitching details in one section, and a zip closed vent on the back of the sleeve. On the inside of the jacket there are two grey cotton webbing straps sewn into each side of the back of the neck hanging down the back and one button in the centre back of the lining. There is a length of the same grey webbing sewn horizontally across the centre back lining with one button sewn at each end. There is an additional length of grey webbing with a button at one end and two button holes down its length that is not attached to the jacket.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Material: 60% Polyester 40% Polyurethane. Colour: Silver. RN 119379 CA52192 Style: HLM22880 style #: H07RM401
Made in China
Made in China
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Invisible Men exhibition label:
ASTRO MOTO JACKET
Helmut Lang
2017
This jacket is a re-edition of one from Lang’s Autumn Winter 1999 collection. Lang often used one original garment for inspiration; however this piece is a collage of details from various sources. The collar from an American firefighter’s jacket, the elbows from a biker jacket, and the fabrication and other details from astronauts’ garments.
Polyester, polyurethane
Archive no. 2019.28