In 2005, the seminal designer Helmut Lang left the world of fashion behind him to focus on his art practice. Now—in a move that mirrors Lang’s own collaborations with artists Jenny Holzer and Louise Bourgeois when he was at the helm of his eponymous fashion brand—he has joined forces with Saint Laurent creative director Anthony Vacarello for a set of singular sculptures that will form part of Vacarello’s Saint Laurent Rive Droite project.
Vaccarello invited Lang to select garment and accessory prototypes from his past Saint Laurent collections for the purpose, which Lang—as per his usual methodology—proceeded to shred, combine with a pigmented resin, and mould in aluminium. The result is a series of primal, textured totems, symbolic of “a precious past and a promising future”. The evocative sculptures will be displayed at Rive Droite in Paris, before travelling to Los Angeles.
