This new book documents the Helmut Lang clothes destroyed in a fire

“I can still smell the intense smoke, which is the most poignant scent you can imagine,” says Joakim Andreasson, who was one of the first to enter the Soho loft where a large swathe of Helmut Lang’s archive had been ravaged by flames back in 2010. Shortly after, Andreasson, who worked alongside Lang in a number of capacities for almost two decades, began the near impossible task of salvaging what he could from the devastating blaze and painstakingly documenting it on his humble digital camera. Now, over 10,000 of those photographs come together in a new book, HELMUT LANG ARCHIVE DISPERSED [published by Baron], as part of the most expansive showcase of Lang’s archive to date.

Though Lang understood the importance of archiving his collections from the very start, and was an early adopter of digitising his work, he was in no way nostalgic for the past. Instead of reorganising and rehousing what was left of his back catalogue, the designer famously shredded the pieces beyond repair to make ‘fashion confetti’, donated a selection of pieces to museums across the globe, and charged Andreasson with eBaying the rest. “About two weeks after [we agreed that was what would happen], around 30 boxes showed up to my one bedroom apartment across the street from the Chateau Marmont,” says Andreasson. 

This dispersion of Helmut Lang’s archive has only added to the brand’s near mythical lore, with the Belgian designer constantly referenced and riffed on across the course of the last ten years. Alongside industry insiders like David Casavant, it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that Kanye West’s team were among those bidding for Andreasson’s listings, with West’s subsequent Yeezy collections indebted to – or depending on your outlook, overtly jacked from – Lang’s creations. That there has never been a definitive exhibition or book charting its rise is beyond Andreasson’s comprehension, and so HELMUT LANG ARCHIVE DISPERSED is his own personal remedy to that.

With Helmut Lang leaving his namesake brand in the mid 00s, the house has undergone a series of twists and turns in the aftermath, with residencies from the likes of W magazine’s Alix Brown and Dazed’s former editor-in-chief Isabella Burley. Now, Andreasson is happy to see it back in the hands of what he calls “a true designer”. “I am excited to see the brand working with someone who is freely infusing his own vision into the brand, and I think Peter Do is a stellar choice – a designer from a generation what is respectful while not being bound by the weight of Lang’s past,” he surmises. 

Read more about how the book came about below, and click through the gallery above for a closer look at some of what you can find inside.

“When I first started working [at Lang], I remember experiencing a bit of a culture shock. After nearly two-years at Dior Homme, which was very bureaucratic, regimented and high-pressure beyond Devil Wears Prada, the Helmut Lang vibe was much more casual, detached, and chill” – Joakim Andreasson

Hi Joakim! So first of all, could you tell me how you came to work for Helmut Lang, and what it was like working for the house?

Joakim Andreasson: My first experience with Helmut Lang was when I interned for the brand’s HQ in New York while attending Parsons School of Design. At the time, they did not accept interns – I had an in after having worked at Dior Homme in Paris under Hedi Slimane during the hyper-hype of his first two collections, and Hedi’s PR director Sabisha Friedberg, who was very much a mentor of mine, recommended me to Helmut’s assistant. 

Long story short, I worked in the press department during the summer of 2003. I would see Helmut around and we’d be cordial. Word got around that I had a certain humour and charm in addition to being hard-working, and at the end of my internship, he asked to meet with me. I remember walking into the conference room at 142 Greene Street and sitting opposite Helmut and Melanie Ward – casually chatting about all things from what I wanted to do in life to good times at The Cock. 

I think we established a good rapport with humour as the foundation. I graduated a year later and needed a job after having boosted my work experience at Visionaire, Yohji Yamamoto, the Guggenheim Museum, and Alexander McQueen. Helmut created a position for me in the press department, which was a blessing and a curse as colleagues felt I slipped in on a banana peel or unfairly. When I first started working there, I remember experiencing a bit of a culture shock. After nearly two-years at Dior Homme, which was very bureaucratic, regimented and high-pressure beyond Devil Wears Prada, the Helmut Lang vibe was much more casual, detached, and chill. 

Was it somewhere you had your sights set on within your career or was it a more organic arrival at the brand?  

Joakim Andreasson: My first suit when I was 17 was a Helmut Lang suit. I bought my first designer jacket when I was 16 – a green nylon Helmut Lang jacket – Both from STIJL in Brussels.  Early experiences also included visiting the Helmut Lang store in Vienna when I was 17 and buying a beige military-style patch knit sweater while obsessing over a pair of boots that had reflector detailing, as well as the Munich store, which used to be at the The Bayerischer Hof and where I got a black sheer nylon tank. 

Fast forward to college, my senior thesis was about matters of integrity vs commerce in the art/fashion dialogue, which Lang pioneered at the time – So I had both consciously and unconsciously set the path prior and stars were somehow aligned. That said, I only ended up working for Helmut Lang the fashion house for a few months as he resigned shortly thereafter. 

“As firefighters had ploughed through the space to stop the fire, clothes were spread all over the floor, blown out the window, or engulfed by the fire. Thousands of garments were soaked in water and covered in ashes, creating a mud-like layer on all the clothing. ” – Joakim Andreasson

It's only really recently a lot of houses have actually started taking archiving seriously. Why was it so important to Helmut Lang from the off to have this archive?

Joakim Andreasson: I think the hardest part in that respect is that fashion goes so incredibly fast, and proper archiving takes a lot of time and resources. I think it has taken houses time to realise and monetise on the idea of archives and how to embed, or even justify them, into their business models. Most houses don’t even have the bandwidth nor luxury to think about their archival value for when, or more importantly if, their designs finally get their turn to be referenced or receive the spotlight. 

I think the traditional solution used to be to offset this responsibility to museum collections, and let designs be judged by the test of time. But all that changed with social media and the ability to control and manipulate exposure on a larger scale. I would imagine that more and more houses choose to hold on to archival designs for such purposes rather than have them locked up by strict museum and conservation guidelines. 

In Helmut’s case, he never struck me as someone nostalgic about the past. When he relocated from Vienna to New York in 1997, he got rid of his then archive to help fund the move. After resigning from his name stake brand in 2005, I think the idea of creating an archive to protect his legacy and control how his physical designs were going being used was very important in order to encapsulate and maintain authorship of that chapter of his work. I also think he kept his options very open about what could come next, and in order to move forward with a clean slate, we had to structure his past. I also think the archiving process allowed him to take a well-deserved break after 30 years at the top of his game. 

What were your emotions when you entered the building for the first time post-fire? Was it a pragmatic thing, or was it very emotional?

Joakim Andreasson: It was quite shocking. I had been called by our alarm company in the middle of the night prior, and spent a good portion of the night witnessing the fire and firefighters in action. The building was completely blocked off. The space that housed the clothing archive had a big hole in the middle of the ground, and clothing and racks were thrown around on the floor resembling a large-scale pick-a-stick game. As firefighters had ploughed through the space to stop the fire, clothes were spread all over the floor, blown out the window, or engulfed by the fire. Thousands of garments were soaked in water and covered in ashes, creating a mud-like layer on all the clothing. 

It was overwhelming to think about how to even start the process of recovery. I can still smell the intense smoke, which is the most poignant scent you can imagine. It felt corrosive, lingering in the back of my nose for months thereafter. The fact that Helmut was known for using non traditional materials in his fashion – including rubber, plastics, and other industrial materials did not help with the toxic air. And even if an item looked like it was salvageable – the items maintained a hue of smoke damage and smell that was impossible to get rid off. 

For months thereafter, we would assess what could be saved, explore options to repair and clean and make sense of it all. It was me and Helmut’s creative assistant who took care of it all, to the point of it affecting my health and forcing me to avoid coming to work and get a doctor's notice. I think we spent years thereafter dealing with this catastrophic event – from renovations, cleaning services, to storage units, to moving artefacts from one place to the next. 

In terms of damaged goods, Helmut found good use for these items, and famously rented a shredding truck and had thousands of pieces destroyed and turned into “fashion confetti”. This was thereafter used as raw material for a massive series of sculptures that have since been exhibited at a number of galleries and institutions in Europe and The United States. 

“I saved all the pictures that I had created over the course of unloading the archive, and last year, ten years after the fire and about two years after parting ways with Helmut, I felt it was time to do something with this material and somehow make this experience my own and take artistic ownership of the documenting process” – Joakim Andreasson

What are the most important items you were able to salvage from the archive after the fire? 

Joakim Andreasson: The good thing was that the last round of donations to museums that I had been working on for years had already been shipped or were waiting to be picked up on the floor above, and were not affected by the fire. The remainder of the fashion archive was clearly a mess, but the server was saved by just a feet or two, and all digital records were thankfully left intact. I looked at a video and some pictures I took with my cellphone the day after the fire, and it is shocking to see how close the fire was to our central server. Without it, years of work would have been lost. 

Was there anything you wished you could have saved but didn't? 

Joakim Andreasson: I don’t remember one piece in particular. The whole experience was overwhelming to the point where any emotional attachment got overridden by the magnitude of work we had ahead of us. 

Why were the pieces sold off via eBay? Why was it not a case of rebuilding the archive post-fire, and perhaps sourcing missing items via the same source to fill in the gaps as some houses are doing now they realise archiving is so important? 

Joakim Andreasson: After having gone through what was salvageable from the fire and donating hundreds of looks and stand-alone pieces to museums around the world, we were left with thousands of pieces that without the context of an archive did not serve much purpose. We discussed ways how these could be sold without turning it into a media spectacle, and I offered to do it for him under the radar with my assistant from Los Angeles on eBay. He agreed, and about two weeks later around 30 boxes showed up to my one bedroom apartment across the street from Chateau Marmont. 

eBay can be a great place to connect with likeminded people beyond being a selling tool – from experience, people can share very personal stories on why they are buying items [I just had a woman tell me the story about why she wore a particular fragrance I was selling, for example!] Where did the pieces go, and what conversations were had? 

Joakim Andreasson: The pieces were shipped all round the world! With a lot of regulars awaiting new listings with suspense. I did meet some of the local collectors here in LA, some of whom I count as my friends to this day. It was interesting to witness their reactions when they realised my past and who the pieces belonged to. I even had members from Kanye West’s design team buying pieces from me. I have no idea how they were used, or where they eventually ended up. 

Why did you feel it was important to document everything in this book? How did it come about? 

Joakim Andreasson: I saved all the pictures that I had created over the course of unloading the archive, and last year, ten years after the fire and about two years after parting ways with Helmut, I felt it was time to do something with this material and somehow make this experience my own and take artistic ownership of the documenting process. 

The body of work encompasses more than 10,000 photographs that in its seriality and entirety represents Lang’s consistent language throughout his designs. It is not meant to serve as a catalogue raisonne by any means. It serves more as a visual encapsulation of significant garments who’s destiny got shifted through a catastrophic event. They are captured with a low-fi straightforward and consistent aesthetic that at the time was fit for eBay. They are all my pictures, photographed on my dime and my own time. 

Over the years, I have witnessed countless waves of Lang’s influence in fashion, which is still going strong. I’ve heard over and over that vintage Helmut Lang pieces are pretty much a staple in reference archives of most prominent fashion houses and designers. The desirability of original Lang designs after he left fashion created a hyped generation of collectors such as David Casavant, Michael Kardamakis, Gill Linton, Justin Westover and more – all branding themselves as owning the largest archives for vintage Helmut Lang clothing. 

Funnily enough, I was contributing to their collections straight from the source without them knowing the extent of it. In terms of significance I think it is more the documentation of a circumstance than the representation of one man’s work. But that doesn’t mean it cannot be considered a point of reference in studying Lang’s work and history. I like the idea of demystifying significant events that clearly have had a significant impact. I hope this series encourages members in fashion and art, industries that are heavily controlled and regimented, to present a more honest view towards its audience. It is also significant to note that there has not been a single book published on Lang’s work in fashion to date. 

“I like the idea of demystifying significant events that clearly have had a significant impact. I hope this series encourages members in fashion and art, industries that are heavily controlled and regimented, to present a more honest view towards its audience” – Joakim Andreasson

Do you have an ultimate favourite piece in its pages? 

Joakim Andreasson: With some time passing, I enjoy the abstraction and seriality of the images, capturing slight variations of that DNA that over 20 years of first hand examination is now very familiar to me. Time has allowed for a different perspective. The images are by no means meant to be pretty or polished, and are more reminiscent of the 90s ethos of dismissing the notion of the beautiful. 

You must have loads of Helmut Lang in your wardrobe. What's one piece you would never let go of? 

Joakim Andreasson: I certainly did! With time, and moves, a number of pieces had to go. A number of them I regret parting ways with, but I still have some of the undeniable must-haves including 3/4 length coats and jeans. I also still have a pair of knee-high boots from the AW03/04 collection that I keep for sentimental value. During my years in New York they were all I wore. 

Do you feel sentimental about clothing? Did working on this project change or alter the way you feel about clothes? 

Joakim Andreasson: I used to be, but not so much anymore. I think the fact that I own and run CULTUREEDIT, which among its operations runs a website and space in Hollywood selling designer clothing including Walter Van Beirendonck, Loverboy, JW Anderson, GmBH, Bernhard Willhelm, COMME des GARÇONS, ERL, Ludovic De Saint Sernin and many more, doesn’t help. I witness the fast pace of seasons and the realities of running a business, which doesn’t leave room for feelings. But I do hold on to a few pieces that define chapters of my life. 

Why did you decide to leave the brand? 

Joakim Andreasson: I opted to work for the person rather than the brand. After Helmut resigned in 2005, he offered me a job in his new office only a few months later. Funny enough, his office was in the same building that I had worked in for the brand, so I walked up the stairs with a leap of faith without really knowing what would happen next. 

Later on, in 2012, I gave up my job and moved from New York to Los Angeles. I started to get to work solo, and my first projects were an exhibition I produced and curated of Silvia Prada’s art that was extremely successful and visible, PR gigs for galleries and museums – including Martine Gutierrez's first two exhibitions at Ryan Lee and the Tom of Finland, and Bernhard Willhelm exhibitions at MOCA Los Angeles – as well as one of my proudest achievements; the creation and curation of Henzel Studio Collaborations, a program of artist designed rugs designed with contemporary artists that now surpass 30 names and include Richard Prince, Mickalene Thomas, Nan Goldin, Anselm Reyle, Marilyn Minter, Jack Pierson, and many more. I also started to manage all licensing for Tom of Finland Foundation which in fashion have included high-profile collaborations with JW Anderson, Honey Dijon and Diesel. 

Helmut and I maintained contact between 2012 and 2014, and I also invited him to be part of Henzel Studio Collaborations, and we created a stunning design after one of his sculptures. I think he observed the progress of my work from a distance, and once he felt that I had enough under my belt and that I was truly serious about my work and doing things on my own, he asked if we could work together again with him as client, managing his communication, press, and projects. I agreed, and we worked together for nearly 10 years after that. However, during the pandemic things changed and we parted ways. That said, I am extremely proud and grateful for our years together. 

How do you feel about the legacy of the brand? Are you excited to see Peter Do take over?

Joakim Andreasson: I think the legacy of Helmut’s work maintains the aura and cult-value that made his brand successful to begin with. The fact that there is not one source of record when it comes to representing Lang’s body of work adds to the myth. However, if a museum has a solid loan budget, an impressive show can be put on consolidating looks from collections around the world. As for the future of Helmut Lang, I am excited to see the brand take the path that they should have from the get go, working with a true designer who freely is infusing his own vision into the brand, and I think Peter Do is a stellar choice. We will be including a conversation with Peter for the book, bringing in the perspective of a younger designer from a generation that is respectful while not bound by the weight of Lang’s past. 

Buy your own copy of HELMUT LANG ARCHIVE DISPERSED right here.