RUNWAY: Helmut Lang SS18

Like so many of the most influential designers of the 90s, Helmut Lang's aesthetic pervades throughout fashion decades after he's left. Helmut Lang, the man, is now an artist while his namesake label has been revived, anchored by the designer's expansive archives. Who's taking charge of reinventing the Lang label? Hood by Air's Shayne Oliver, who shuttered HBA to focus solely on Lang. The result was highly sexual and fetishized, with some great tailoring thrown in and a sense of seasonlessness in the clothes. There were coats as well as tees while leather and brassieres for men and women rounded out the expansive debut. It was a valiant effort by Oliver, mixing a timeless label's aesthetic with his own; however the task at hand is a tall order and not many designers, both young and old, have had it easy when they've taken over the design duties at well known house.