For Rina Sawayama and Peter Do, fashion is about editing. At first, it’s not obvious that the star and fashion designer have much in common — one’s flamboyant, colourful stage outfits bear little resemblance to the poised, architectural designs of the other — but they think about clothes in remarkably similar ways. For Peter Do, recently appointed creative director at Helmut Lang, it’s about sparsity. “I’ve learned over the years what I like,” he says, concisely, “so now I have fewer things.” Similarly, Hold the Girl singer Rina Sawayama tells us she opts for a condensed, versatile wardrobe when offstage. “Like Helmut Lang,” she adds, “I like classic pieces that I can mix and match, knowing they look great together.” For this GUEST EDIT, both Sawayama and Do cut the excess. Styled by Do in his SS24 collection, the Japanese-British artist brings her very current It girl energy to Helmut Lang’s launch on Zalando.

Helmut Lang is one of those fashion houses that’s so inextricably bound to an era, a style, an essence, that to summarise its clothes or history seems futile. Nevertheless, founded in 1986 by a quiet Austrian of the same name, Lang’s creation was synonymous with 1990s sexiness and minimalism; it gave us pieces like the infamous rubber dress, the seatbelt suit, the military-inspired ballistic vest, and the M69 Flak jacket. Stella Tennant, Kate Moss, Kristen McMenamy were the models; the clothes they wore down the runways were austere, sleek, utilitarian, and suggestive. Helmut Lang was the pinnacle of cool. It was for ravers of the refined, academic type (think: debauched parties, exquisite posture). But since the designer’s departure from his own brand in 2005, it’s been lying somewhat dormant. That is, until Peter Do took the helm in 2023.

Last year was a pivotal moment for Helmut Lang and for Do. The Vietnamese-American designer has won the LVMH Graduate Prize, worked under Phoebe Philo at Celine, and even started his own successful namesake label — yet he singles out his appointment at Helmut Lang as the highlight of his career. Under his direction, Helmut Lang has been revived. “The main focus for SS24,” he says of his debut collection, “was to establish a system of dressing for Helmut Lang that can evolve over time, season after season. We spent the first few months developing the blocks that we’re still using every season.”

Rina Sawayama, the quintessential pop princess and new era screen queen of the 2020s, buys into Do’s vision. “This collection is full of timeless silhouettes,” she says. “The pieces are wearable, elevated, and I can see myself wearing them for seasons to come.” High praise, coming from a star who’s known for serving some of the industry’s most impressive avant-garde looks onstage. For Sawayama, fashion and music are “symbiotic.” In highlighting the intersection between these two of her worlds, she speaks with modest conviction: “It’s amazing how powerful fashion can be in bringing a character or persona alive on stage,” she says. Nothing to do with her own talent, then.

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“The pieces are wearable, elevated, and I can see myself wearing them for seasons to come.”

- Rina Sawayama

That’s not to say that a Rina Sawayama song sounds anything like a Helmut Lang piece looks. There’s certainly an experimental edge to her two full-length albums, but big-ticket collaborations with legends like Elton John bear witness to her success in a more mainstream pop world. Well on her way to becoming a global superstar and citing Lady Gaga as her biggest fashion inspiration, Sawayama seems worlds away from the moody, techno-backed runways of Helmut Lang, which evoke more the dirty, meticulously crafted sound of Burial or Aphex Twin than emotionally-charged pop belters.

Yet, certain things draw Sawayama and Do together, and one of them is Japanese culture. Sawayama moved to London from Japan when she was five years old. With Japanese being her first language, throughout her youth, she would listen to artists like Hikaru Utada to keep in touch with her Japanese identity. Do, meanwhile, grew up on a small farm outside Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. In his relative isolation, he’d devour reams of Japanese manga.

A person with long black hair sits on a worn white couch, wearing a black suit with pink accents and striking a strong pose against a plain wall.

WEARABLE, ELEVATED, REFINED

“In Peter Do’s suiting, I felt the most powerful version of myself.”

- Rina Sawayama

When asked about which piece they would keep from the collection, both opt for the seatbelt suit. “Peter’s incredible tailoring was such a staple of this project,” says Sawayama. “It’s amazing how an outfit can transform how you feel and in his suiting, I felt the most powerful version of myself.” The jacket in particular is a significant piece, given how central the New York taxi reference is to Helmut Lang. But one other touch was more personal to Do, and he picks it out as an “important moment” in his career. Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (in which a son writes a letter to his illiterate mother, exploring his Vietnamese heritage), wrote poetry for his collection, lines of which can be seen splashed across the garments in signature Helmut Lang caps. It’s a touch that made for an emotional debut: Do tells us he was in tears throughout.

The coming year holds good things for these two artists. Sawayama, having featured in John Wick: Chapter 4, released two albums and toured the world three times in the last three years, is looking to be inspired by some well-earned time off. For Do, there will be no such rest, as he continues to craft his revamped, 2020s iteration of Helmut Lang. For both, as with this Helmut Lang collection, inspiration must be carefully balanced with innovation, practicality with impression, and poise with partying.