"Helmut Lang has often been praised for his 'deconstructive' designs. With basic garment forms as the starting point, Lang created subversively elegant and abstract designs that combined the classic with the avant-garde. This experimentation was amply demonstrated in S/S 2001, where Lang explored ways of revealing the body. Cut-outs and laces were used to decorate tops, trousers and outerwear, while dresses featured straps and perforations that created a subtle yet sensual effect.The wearer's body is highlighted and in turn becomes an essential component of the design itself. S/S 2001 can thus be understood as a quintessential Helmut Lang collection, combining his cerebral conceptualism with a new sense ofraw-yet-refined sexiness." - Endyma
This piece is crafted in a supple sheep leather with an immaculate sheen. Laced corset panels along the body and sleeves open to below, revealing another layer of leather underneath the body and a subtle part of the wearer’s skin in the sleeves. The rest of the piece is finished with impeccably detailed construction, with curved panelling cut to echo the circular geometry of the corset detailing.
The cutouts are stitched together out of the main body panel without using any additional pieces of leather in an ingenious and intensive process where the supple and delicate leather is carefully thinned and skived then folded over to maintain a smooth seamless surface. The signature dropped back bondage strap, usually crafted in cotton webbing, is rendered here in the same leather as the rest of the jacket. This choice creates a nearly singular material vocabulary while complementing and driving focus towards the other outer material: the elongated adjustable corset ties that runs throughout the lacing panels of the piece.
