Can Peter Do Revive Helmut Lang? (SS24 Debut Review)

Discussing the significance of Peter Do's appointment as creative director of Helmut Lang & whether his debut SS24 (Spring Summer 2024) runway collection at New York Fashion Week was a success. As the newly appointed creative director of Helmut Lang, Peter Do had a not-so-easy set of tasks: Update the quintessentially cool ’90s fashion label — which, despite its continued influence, has spent a number of years rudderless — and fuse its aesthetic with his own. Present the collection as the first official runway of the Spring-Summer 2024 season at New York Fashion Week (having only shown on the schedule twice prior). And then put out another collection, for his eponymous label, in Paris just a few weeks later. “I haven’t slept in awhile,” Do told CNN backstage at the New York show, with a small laugh, during a group interview. When 32-year-old Do was announced to the post in May, excitement rippled through the fashion industry at the prospect that the minimalist label would be reimagined by the Vietnamese-born designer. Lang left the brand in 2005; both its ownership and creative leads have switched around since, with short-lived ‘editor-in-residence’ roles replacing Michael and Nicole Colovos in 2014, followed by a long gap. “As someone who loves the original Helmut Lang, I was so happy that they were making an effort to revitalize the brand, because it’s still so relevant,” said the designer Derek Lam, whose label Do worked for prior to striking out on his own, in a phone