Editor’s note: The much-missed Helmut Lang is the subject of a new exhibition at MAK in Vienna. As part of Vogue Runway’s ongoing efforts to document the history of fashion shows, we are closing out 2025 by adding as complete-as-possible digitized shows to the site. This spring 1992 ready-to-wear collection was presented in Paris in October 1992.
When Helmut Lang presented this spring 1992 show in Paris, he was still years away from moving to New York, yet suggestions of the Wild West seemed to be present in his use of body paint, bolos, chaps, earth tones, and beaded snakes that wiggled their way around briefs. Markers of warm-weather escapes—sandals, swimsuits, and polo dresses—came up against studier, more protective materials like leather and armor in the form of quill-like breastplates.
If the clothes had a certain earthiness at the opening, there was more of a techy feeling to the later exits, though that wouldn’t have been the terminology at the time. A red lacquered jersey moved, the designer said, like liquid. And the glazelike shine of Look 51 was created with an overgarment woven of a spiderweb-fine metal. The glint of metallic in basket-weave-look chaps felt a bit futuristic. One thing about Lang’s cowboys and cowgirls is that they weren’t afraid to show some muscle—or some skin.
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