Helmut Lang makes a return to Paris

By

Florent Gilles

Published
Feb 5, 2013

Helmut Lang, star of the nineties and since transformed into a successful contemporary brand, is making its return to Paris, opening a store in the Haut Marais area of the city.

The brand will open a store at 12 rue Debelleyme, a location formerly occupied by Ventilo. With 50m² on two floors (ground and basement level) the store will carry the brand’s cotemporary collections which have been designed by American design couple Nicole and Michael Colovos since 2006. Helmut Lang has not been present in Paris since its flagship store on the city’s famous rue Saint-Honoré closed in 2006.

In its glory days, Helmut Lang, 51% owned by the Prada group between 1999 and 2006, had a 400m² store-come-gallery which showcased the brand’s designs as well as the works of a number of a major artists like Louise Bourgeois. After the Austrian designer left his brand, the Prada group kept the lease on the address and transformed it into the current Paris Miu Miu flagship. Helmut Lang was sold to a Japanese group in 2006 after a short and fruitless relationship, similar to that of the Prada group and Jil Sander.

Link Theory, a Fast Retailing subsidiary and Helmut Lang owner, has developed the brand internationally and established it as one of the must-see comtempory designer brands at New York Fashion Week.