Helmut Lang releases Postcard capsule collection

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
May 9, 2022

The house of Helmut Lang is releasing a new pre-fall 2022 capsule entitled Postcard, which plays on images from three cities including Vienna, where the founder took his first steps as a designer.

 
Several elements in the streetwear collection feature photos of stone cherubs hanging from neo-classical buildings in the Austrian capital, or snaps of the city’s famously idiosyncratic waiters.
 
The collection culls from archive styles from 20 years ago, finished with postcard graphics. Most looks include snaps of three cities - Vienna, New York and Paris - shot by Daniel Gebhart, Kyungjun Lee and Davit Giorgadze respectively. The Postcard Capsule launches on Tuesday, May 10.

Photos from each city are printed together with the name of the photographer on the casual sweatpants, hoodies and T-shirts.
 
From Vienna, a quirky tuxedoed waiter carrying a plate of wiener schnitzel and slice of lemon adds wit to a sweatshirt; from Paris a shot of a heart-shaped balloon lensed by Giorgadze appears on a T-shirt. While Kyungjun Lee’s New York photos of aged skyscrapers from lower Manhattan are emblazoned on yellow or putty gray hoodies. One T-shirt is the reverse side of a postcard with a top corner square marked for stamps.
 

The house has increasingly tapped into the brand’s roots in Austria as it burnishes the brand, printing 'Est. 1986 Vienna' on certain items.
 
However, looking at this cool streetwear it’s hard to imagine for today’s new generation how influential a designer Lang was back in the 1990s. His minimalist yet subversive style blended with unlikely materials like feathers, rubber, metallics or nylon trim made his shows, in either Paris or after he moved to New York, the hottest tickets in fashion. Lang also revolutionized the industry by becoming the first designer to show a collection online with a live Internet broadcast in 1998.
 
The house of Helmut Lang has been owned since 2006 by Link Theory Holdings, which acquired it from Prada. Lang stopped designing fashion shortly before the acquisition and has devoted himself to being a fine artist living on Long Island.
 
But at least his Mittel-European roots emerge in this capsule.