A significant private collection of early Helmut Lang fashion pieces faces an uncertain future as its owner seeks a permanent home for the historically important garments. The collection, featuring approximately 40 clothing items from the 1980s and early 1990s, represents a crucial period in the Austrian designer's career and includes rare pieces from Lang's pre-international fame era.
Christoph Pfandler, who has operated the vintage clothing store Polyklamott in Vienna's Mariahilf district for 26 years, acquired the entire collection in 2022 when it was offered to him by a former Viennese boutique owner through an intermediary. Pfandler, who initially also ran a branch in the newly opened MuseumsQuartier, made the decision to purchase the complete collection to preserve its historical integrity. "When I was shown photos, I decided to buy the entire inventory," Pfandler explained. "I realized this was a cohesive collection from Lang's early phase, and I didn't want to break it up."
The collection's centerpiece consists of pieces from Helmut Lang's Fallwick collection, designed in 1985 for the Salzburg traditional clothing company Gössl. Approximately half of Pfandler's acquired pieces stem from this notable collaboration, which represents a unique stylistic position in Lang's body of work. The Fallwick collection was created one year before Lang achieved his international breakthrough with his "L'apocalypse joyeuse" collection at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 1986, which was presented as part of the accompanying program for the exhibition "Vienne 1880-1938. Naissance d'un siècle" dedicated to Vienna's Fin de Siècle period.
After acquiring the garments, Pfandler has worked to create optimal preservation conditions for the textiles, establishing a climate-controlled room that is dust-free and protected from sunlight. He subsequently conducted research, partly with the assistance of fashion students, to identify and catalog the pieces according to their respective collections. However, he notes that researching Lang's early years presents challenges due to limited available sources from that period.
The collection made its first public appearance in 2022 on the sidelines of the Susanne Bisovsky retrospective at the Geymüllerschlössel, a branch of the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK). For a recent photography project, Pfandler has lent pieces from his collection for a special photographic production, with photographer Peter Garmusch creating striking 3D wire installations in his studio. Such loans would not be possible with museum collection pieces due to conservation requirements, making this private collection particularly valuable for educational and artistic purposes.
Despite his dedication to preserving the collection, Pfandler acknowledges the challenges of maintaining proper conservation standards as a private collector. "Creating the conservation conditions for the correct storage of the objects is a challenge for me as a private collector," he admits. He believes the collection would be better served in an environment with perfect conservation conditions and is considering its future placement.
Pfandler remains committed to keeping the collection intact rather than selling individual pieces. He envisions an ideal future for the collection in either a public museum or a private collector's archive, where its continued preservation could be guaranteed. "A public museum or a private collector's archive would be ideal places to secure their continued existence," Pfandler stated.
The uncertainty surrounding the collection's future highlights broader questions about the preservation of fashion history and the role of private collectors in maintaining cultural heritage. Whether an Austrian museum will express interest in acquiring the collection or if it might eventually be sold abroad remains to be seen, leaving this important piece of fashion history in a state of limbo.
