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Daily Fashion & Runway News
Relaunched in 2007 after changing hands from Prada to Link Theory Holdings, and without its legendary namesake at the creative helm, Helmut Lang now exists as a more affordable label than the luxury brand of yore. Helmut Lang defined luxe minimalism in the nineties (along with Jil Sander, Prada, and Calvin Klein). Lang focused on sharply cut suits and trousers, with references to the kinkier side of fashion via bondage pants or leather harnesses worn over T-shirts. His suits, and later his phenomenally popular jeans, became a uniform for power brokers in creative industries like film, art, advertising, and fashion. The new creative directors of the brand, CFDA runners-up Nicole and Michael Colovos, emphasized denim in their previous line, Habitual, and were tapped to run the Helmut Lang brand because of their combination of “street edge” and femininity, as explained by Andrew Rosen of Theory. They’ve succeeded at maintaining the brand’s modern, minimalist roots while stamping it with their own point of view.
“About Helmut Lang's major influence over the fashion of the last 15 years there is little doubt. Consumers can thank him for flat-front pants, the number of buttons on men's suits - first three, more recently two - and the spiraling prices of designer jeans and T-shirts. An entire culture of prestige denim was born from Mr. Lang's low-rise jeans with intricate washes, for which he dared to charge close to $200 in the 1990's.”—Eric Wilsom The New York Times
“The re-launch of Helmut Lang, now owned by Link Theory Holdings, is as a contemporary—that is, more affordable—line, as opposed to a luxury one. Michael and Nicole Colovos, the founders of Habitual jeans, were tapped to get the job done some three years ago. For their first bona fide runway show, this week, Nicole said that she and her partner had decided to concentrate on 'modern fabrics and architectural lines.' In other words, they decided to stay true to the soul of the brand.”—Laird Borrelli-Persson Style.com
Michael Colovos and Nicole Colovos