Item 2019.53 - Helmut Lang Hand-Painted Denim Jacket

Identity area

Reference code

2019.53

Title

Helmut Lang Hand-Painted Denim Jacket

Date(s)

  • Spring/Summer 1998 (Creation)

Level of description

Item

Extent and medium

1

Context area

Name of creator

Helmut Lang
(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.

Repository

Westminster Menswear Archive

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Black washed denim trucker jacket with a hand-painted white design on the front body and sleeves. The jacket features a six-button front closure and two patch pockets. The sleeve hems have single cuffs, and the jacket hem includes one cinch tab on each side with two additional buttons to adjust the fit. The jacket also has a wide collar and is constructed using felled seams for durability.
Country of Design and Manufacture: Italy.

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      There are two branded Helmut Lang brand labels on the centre back of the jacket yoke. Label one: Helmut Lang M, Produced in 1998, Classic Denim. Size 50, additional care label: Helmut Lang: Produced and distributed by GTR Group SpA, localita' la selvotta Monteroduni (isernia) made in Italy, C/03528-12/1998, 134 HL 5001 015 0U, 100% cotton, A norma della Legge, N^883 DEL 26-11-1973, CA 19543

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      Note

      Invisible Men exhibition label:

      HAND-PAINTED DENIM JACKET
      Helmut Lang
      1998

      Lang refined the Levi’s Type III Trucker Jacket with subtle changes, such as using green topstitching. He then had them screen printed to look like they had been accidentally covered in white paint. These garments proved so desirable that someone has hand-painted an original plain Helmut Lang denim jacket to make it look like the printed version.

      Cotton
      Archive no. 2019.53

      Note

      From Inside the Westminster Menswear Archive:

      HAND-PAINTED JACKET
      Helmut Lang
      1998
      The Helmut Lang Jeans diffusion line was introduced in 1997 as part of the designer’s Spring Summer 1997 collection and reflected Lang’s ongoing obsession with American workwear by drawing inspiration from several iconic denim jeans and jackets. Lang reinterpreted the Levi’s 1967 Type III Trucker Jacket for his 1998 collection with subtle modifications, such as green topstitching. This version was originally a plain Helmut Lang denim jacket, but it has been hand-painted by a previous owner, possibly to resemble his iconic painter jeans. However, the paint effect on the jeans was achieved through screen printing, and the brand has never released jackets with a paint effect.
      Cotton
      Archive no. 2019.53

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