By Bethany Berkeley
Peter Do has been named as the new creative director of Helmut Lang; the brand announced today.
Do is set to oversee both men's and women's collections starting this coming Monday, May 15, and will report directly to Helmut Lang CEO Dinesh Tandon. In a statement, Tandon shared that he is “thrilled to have Peter Do join Helmut Lang as Creative Director.” “His clear and innovative approach to design very much aligns with the brand’s ethos and heritage.” Do will also continue to helm his own brand alongside his new role.
Founded in 1986 by the Austrian autodidact designer, Helmut Lang and has seen many Creative Directors walk through its doors since founder Lang himself left in 2005 to become an artist. The brand was acquired by Link Theory Holdings from the Prada Group, and Michael and Nicole Colovos were brought on board to revive the brand. The Colovos’s took the brand in a more contemporary direction than the edgy and artistic codes Lang founded the brand on. The duo left in 2014, leaving the position to be taken up by an in-house design team who remained anonymous until Isabella Burley, who was editor-in-chief of Dazed was hired as ‘editor-in-residence’ of the brand. Burley in turn brought in Shayne Oliver to design the brand's 2018 collection, however, this only lasted one season, another duo (Mark Thomas and Thomas Cawson) were hired and held the position till 2020. Do’s hiring is a big move for the brand which has been led by an in-house design team for the last three years.
Peter Do, born Biên Hòa, hailing from Vietnam has become a notable name in the industry, after studying at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City he then received the inaugural 2014 LVMH Graduate Prize. He then began his career in the Céline atelier under the instruction of none other than Phoebe Philo, before returning to New York to work with Derek Lam. Do subsequently launched his eponymous label in 2018, and quickly earned recognition for his sharp tailoring and his effortlessly cool designs. His designs are shown to reference Lang’s work evident in his love for deconstruction and androgynous style. Do made his runway debut during the Spring 2022 season, with two consecutively bigger shows it’s no wonder he set the industry abuzz when he sat out of the Autumn/Winter 2023 season. However, he recently presented a lookbook of core pieces which he described as a “good reset.”
Credit: Vogue
Do has steadily build a cult following for his brand and has seen a lot of media attention over the last few years. Dressing the likes of Moses Sumney, Jeremy O. Harris, and K-Pop star Jeno from NCT, who opened his spring 2023 runway. Known for his disguising his face in photos, Do keeps an air of mystery around himself, which has been an attraction point for the brand's followers. “There’s so much noise in the industry,” Do said in an interview with Vogue Runway earlier this year. “It feels like everyone’s trying to scream the loudest with nothing really important or of substance to say.”
His first collection for Helmut Lang will take place this September during New York Fashion Week. It is with high anticipation that we wait to see what shape the brand will take with Do at the helm.
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