Oliver's new vision stems from an understanding of New York's fashion history and the role Lang played in its early ’90s disruption. "I think because New York treads along the base idea of fashion history, it is very whimsical at times, even if it is contemporary and very wearable," says Oliver. "It’s never really direct and conceptually precise; it's a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Helmut came in and was like, 'This is the direction. I’m going to repeat this look 12 times.”
While other fashion houses have undergone their share of designer musical chairs lately, this move feels especially copacetic; a mutual desire to obtain newness through different perspectives, resources and backgrounds.
Whether or not Shayne's stint at Helmut Lang will salvage New York Fashion Week remains unknown, but it's certainly a step in the right direction; perhaps it’s just the right dose of buzz to boost morale for seasons to come. If a stronger emphasis was placed on what New York does well, there could be a standing chance. After all, of all the adjectives used to describe this city, how often does the word "dull" really come up?
Another factor is location; with the abundance of breathtaking skylines, warehouses and culturally-diverse locales here, the week's flagship space, Skylight Clarkson Square, is hardly somewhere that endorses the dynamic nature of the city – it's also probably one of the most sterile places to present a collection.
So what does New York need to boost its reputation? Disruption.
"We’re shaking things up," Oliver jests. "It’s not a bad thing, it’s more like correcting your vertebrae or something. We took everything that was underappreciated at HBA and brought it over here and made it more contemporary, but it's all Helmut's world.” While streetwear trappings, a touchstone familiar to both designers, aren’t completely dismissed, the overall collection displays Oliver’s more mature side.
“It’s fun that we actually get to be sexy now and work with what a normal person considers sexy, not so much kinky. It’s also making me re-think the man, because I usually drape everything on boys and then put them on women and boys. So this is the first time I’m looking at women straight up," Oliver continues.
"We are holding our ground and staying in New York, which in a sense is crazy, but it’s necessary. We’ll see where this goes, but if I do work with everyone here in the future, we’ll be able to disrupt more. I’m happy that I had this experience; it’s also reevaluated loads of things I was doing right at HBA that I thought I was doing wrong, so using those skills was really gratifying."
Hood By Air was arguably New York Fashion Week’s last saving grace. The label reworked ideas of sexuality, luxury, gender, subculture and streetwear – a formula that fashion loves right now – into refreshingly modern collections season after season. Of course, it didn’t come without polarized commentary, but that was the point. The label constantly teetered on the threshold of niche and commercial (though latter seasons embraced more of the former) and asserted what NYC design is really capable of.
“So many kids have been doing such great work and their craftsmanship is just the bomb and underappreciated, so you go to Paris to get in, and I feel like we need to do what works here and claim it, before everyone else is gone,” says Hood By Air designer Shayne Oliver. “But we’re here, we’re standing and we’re proud.”
But like all good things, the label’s era came to an end, having announced its hiatus back in April. Yet hope was soon after restored with news that Oliver would design a special collection for Helmut Lang, a house renowned for its own anarchist feats during its eponymous designer’s tenure in the ’90s/early 2000s.
Prior to his departure from the label in 2005, Lang made headlines for his brutalist spin on contemporary high-fashion through minimalist silhouettes, tech fabrics and avant-streetwear – way before streetwear was even en vogue in the luxury realm. When he moved his business from Paris to New York in 1998, a move which ignited substantial commotion in the industry, the designer not only boosted the city’s fashion reputation, he challenged standards and presented both men’s and women’s clothing on the same catwalk, made menswear relevant for NYFW, and became the first person to present a collection entirely on the Internet.
“Helmut cared about the business, of course, but it was only because he put it in the design,” says Oliver. “The business was in the clothes; he was making clothes that he thought people should wear, not the other way round. In the boardroom, he wasn’t like ‘I hate this thing but I’m going to sell it to you anyways,’ which dominates fashion at this point.”
While it’s remained active since Lang’s exit, the label has been a faceless entity for nearly 12 years; but the dust that settled on Lang’s radical albeit highly influential legacy has now been wiped clean. In an effort to restore Lang’s relevancy, the company recruited Dazed‘s Editor-in-Chief, Isabella Burley, as its first ever editor-in-residence, who brought on Oliver as the inaugural guest designer – heralding new guard vision through an old guard institution.
From an editorial perspective, Raf Simons – via his eponymous label and Calvin Klein – is the only real pull, while names like Alexander Wang, Marc Jacobs and Jeremy Scott provide a youth-tinged "pop" element to the roster. Tom Ford and Michael Kors stand above the many commercial presentations, while Kith, VFILES and Fenty PUMA hold the streetwear clout of the bunch. But overall, when it comes to true creative innovation, New York Fashion Week just doesn't seem to be cutting it.
It's bizarre, really. After all, the Big Apple is the fashion publication hub of the world. Our casting triumphs in diversity and the CFDA's efforts in raising sociopolitical awareness through a fashion lens is widely praised. New Yorkers excel at PR, far more than their European counterparts at least, so why haven’t more fashion-forward activations been initiated to attract globally-renowned industry figureheads?
Not to mention, the city hosts a wealth of emerging talent that reflects what forward-thinking ingenuity lies beneath the surface. In a recent BoF article, the CFDA's co-chairman of public relations, Ed Filipowski, mentions how "transformations of the global fashion industry start in New York and then move to Europe." Trailblazers like Rick Owens, Matthew Williams and Virgil Abloh certainly strengthen this argument.
Why, then, has New York come under such scrutiny where creative merit is concerned? StyleZeitgeist Editor, Eugene Rabkin, notes the city's "established view that fashion is first and foremost a business" as one reason – hence the gamut of unchallenging, overtly retail-friendly labels that dominate the NYFW schedule.
New York City is not in a good place, at least where fashion is concerned. The issues have been building for years, but now, with former New York Fashion Week highlights such as Thom Browne, Altuzarra, Rodarte and Proenza Schouler fleeing to Paris, there are only a handful of designers left bolstering the city’s dwindling relevance. As a result, the media has amplified the conversation to full volume.
By Nico Amarca
Can NYFW be saved?
Shayne Oliver thinks so.
Is Here to Make
New York Fashion Great Again
Helmut Lang