The Tamesis
Editor’s note: The much-missed Helmut Lang is a subject new exhibition MAK in Vienna. As part of Vogue Runway’s ongoing effort to document the history of fashion shows, we will end 2025 by adding as complete a digital collection of shows as possible to the site. The spring 1992 ready-to-wear collection was launched in Paris in October 1992.
When Helmut Lang showed in Paris in the spring of 1992, he was still years away from moving to New York, but his use of body paint, bolo shirts, leather pants, earth tones, and beaded snakes swinging around briefs seemed to have a hint of the Wild West. Warm-weather escape icons—sandals, swimsuits, and polo skirts—meeted with more studied, protective materials like leather and armor in the form of feathered breastplates.
If the clothes had a certain earthiness at the beginning, the later exits had a more technical feel, although this was not the term at the time. The red lacquered sweatshirt moves like liquid, the designer said. Look 51’s glazed sheen is created by a coat of fine metallic braiding in the shape of a spider’s web. Basket-weave leather pants had a metallic shimmer that felt a little futuristic. One thing about Lang’s cowboys and cowgirls is that they’re not afraid to show some muscle or some skin.
