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September 02, 2005
Ta Ta...Helmut Lang
There won't be a Spring 2006 collection by Helmut Lang. The brand's production has been halted while the Prada Group (the parent company of the Helmut Lang brand) tries to figure out what to do with the brand.
It probably doesn't matter because even if there is, it won't be designed by Helmut Lang himself. The Austrian designer already parted ways with Prada Group in the beginning of this year.
But it's amusing to hear Prada's chief executive officer, Patrizio Bertelli's comments to WWD on Helmut Lang:
"If you see a brand that can't find its customer base, that can't generate the right level of turnover and it's posting losses, you are going to have to proceed in a certain way."
I so would like to tell him:
"If you see two brilliant brands - Helmut Lang and Jil Sander - that can't find their customer base, that can't generate the right level of turnover and they're posting losses after you acquired them, you, as the chief executive officer, should proceed in a certain way. Out!"
But honestly it must be difficult managing top-notch designers who would insist on retaining their creative freedom even after an acquisition.
Maybe the next time you're on a buying spree, snap up fashion houses whose founders' already dead.
Learn from Bernard Arnault. Buy an ailing brand like Christian Dior for a penny, put in two stellar designers like John Galliano and Hedi Slimane, and you get a winner!
IMHO.
Posted by loganw at September 2, 2005 08:18 AM
