Advertisement
Advertisement

A Label of Love

WHEN PAUL HELBERS WAS A teenager he would make sketches of outrageous clothes that drove his father into a rage, particularly when the Dutchman turned some of his drawings into gaudy outfits.

'One day I was going out and my father yelled 'Why not just wear a dress'. So the next day I wore a dress,' says Helbers over dim sum at Hong Kong's China Club. 'I loved to annoy him.'

Now Helbers the obstreperous teen has morphed into the studio director for Louis Vuitton's menswear line and has the fashion world at his well-shod feet. The New York Times heaped praise on his 2008 spring/summer show last September, describing his accessories as 'among the best of the season'. And this January he premiered Louis Vuitton's 2008 autumn/winter line in Paris and shared the thunderous applause at the end of the show with Marc Jacobs, the fashion king who brought Helbers to the house of monograms in late 2005.

Despite Helbers' feminine uprising against paternal authority, his vision for Vuitton is all about masculine elegance. His designs have won praise and business from clients such as ex-cricketer Imran Khan, directors Ang Lee and Wong Kar-wai and actors Daniel Wu Yin-cho and Tony Leung Chiu-wai. Kanye West is a fan, as is Britain's ex-prime minister Tony Blair.

'Imran Khan bought an off-the-rack Vuitton suit last year and wore it to meet Mr Blair,' says Helbers with a smile.

'Blair loved it and ordered seven.'

Like many a shooting star Helbers, now 39, had to spend time spinning through darkness before he was noticed. He followed studies at the Reitveld academy in Amsterdam and Royal College of Art in London with a spell at the Dutch mass-market chain Mac & Maggie, which he likens to H&M 'only more hip'. He then started a label called Inch before landing at Martin Margiela, which was where LV discovered him. Since his arrival Helbers has developed his distinctive vision for men's clothes into something that is both aesthetically appealing and a commercial success.

'Men are extreme creatures of comfort, so quality and fit are absolutely essential,' he says as he sips jasmine tea before his flight back to Paris.

'If a jacket makes a man feel disturbed in some way, like it's not right, you lose that customer.'

Helbers almost didn't make it to his current pinnacle. In his 20s he was in a serious traffic accident and suffered multiple fractures. Worse was to come. Confined to a hospital bed and swathed in plaster he was given pain killers. The active ingredient of the drug was fine but the coating was made from ground crab shell and Helbers suffered a potentially deadly allergic reaction. His oesophagus swelled along with his chest and he was spiralling towards suffocation when doctors came to his aid. 'I can't eat strawberries either,' he says.

Maybe his scrape with death has made Helbers more reflective, creating a new type of designer more concerned with style than flash. That's certainly the impression he creates. With a hint of ginger in his hair that accentuates his resemblance to artist Vincent Van Gogh, Helbers projects tranquility with a hint of steel. And his work is based on a complex reading of the way images can be deconstructed and rebuilt to serve a new purpose.

Take his latest collection. It's based on the 1963 French crime movie Melodie en sous-sol which starred Alain Delon and Jean Gabin. Sure enough some of the thuggish insouciance that made Delon a star comes through in the line of slick suits and tough bomber jackets, but that's just the beginning. For Helbers the 'money shot' in Delon's movie was just that.

'At the end Delon and Gabin throw the cash they stole into a swimming pool,' says Helbers. 'It's in a big bag which splits open and the banknotes float on the surface. From that I took the colours of the notes and the fine lines in the engraving as inspiration for our latest collection.'

Weaving fine lines into suits that echo the engraved lines on a bank note was such a success that Marc Jacobs is looking at ways to incorporate the same technique into Vuitton's women's collection.

'I also loved the effortless elegance of Delon in the movie, that's what I wanted for our menswear line,' Helbers says.

'I also like the fact he had a perfect fit for his suit but his gloves looked too big, as if they had a hidden function. The idea of something so clean cut with a hint of menace was the inspiration for our latest silhouette. I wanted to capture a sense of ambiguity.'

Helbers gets a lot of inspiration from old movies. He and Jacobs meet before each season to exchange ideas and so far they have been in agreement on which direction the venerable house should take. This has been a key factor in helping Vuitton change its image among men. The luxury brand has been known as a top-notch supplier of women's handbags and not the sort of place for a sophisticated guy to find a suit. It's a key element of Helbers' brief to change that.

'I don't like it when luxury is too precious,' he says. 'I like contrasts of casual and elegance. An LV man is elegant and understated.'

Helbers has even taken on the dominance of the LV logo, in order to create the refined look he wants. In his clothes - as with the current line of shirts - it's possible to find the monogram but it's very subtle and that's by design.

'I tell people the LV monogram does not need to be our only signature,' he says. 'The [LV] logo can make you lazy. For sure the monogram sells, but it's too easy. We need to develop other identities that rely on the colour and quality of our stitching and the feel of our leather.'

It's no surprise that Helbers is involved in every aspect of the manufacturing process in search of the perfect combination of masculinity and style. He recently visited a kimono factory in Japan looking at silk broadcloth. He plans to use it as jacquard for sportswear. And he often visits artisans in Paris who put his designs together.

'I love seeing a half-made jacket or a pair of trousers and watching the artisans working with traditional fabrics,' he says. 'I like to feel the cloth, to make sure the shoulders will not be too hard or the waistband too stiff. I'm always looking for ways to make the fabric softer, so it has more movement.'

The suit that bewitched Tony Blair was part of Helbers' spring/summer 2007 collection, which he called 'Victorian Hawaiian'. His inspiration was a book about a state visit that Queen Victoria paid to Hawaii when in mourning for her husband, Prince Albert. As was the tradition, she was dressed in black from head to toe. 'The Hawaiians had never seen anything like it,' says Helbers.

'They were used to clothes that were lime green or yellow. In the months that followed their tropical palette began to see some sombre tones like black, purple and dark blue.'

Helbers used the Hawaiians Victoria-inspired range of colours to create a comprehensive range of designs. For his next collection, spring/summer 2009, he has drawn inspiration from Max Escher, the Dutch graphic artist who was famous for the complexity of his drawings and the simplicity of his style.

The collection he's planned is likely to enhance Helbers' reputation for subtlety. He is no Galliano or Dolce & Gabbana, screaming to be seen and praised. His work tries to appeal to mature sophisticates who are comfortable with their fame and reputations. It's no surprise that Vuitton's print ad campaigns now feature people of unquestioned stature like former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and tennis greats Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.

'Whispering is so much sexier than shouting,' says Helbers. 'I'm more interested in quiet beauty. There should be something mysterious about clothing, they should be part of a puzzle.'

For all that, Louis Vuitton will soon be making a great deal of noise in Hong Kong. On Sunday it opens a boutique on Canton Road in Tsim Sha Tsui - its second-biggest in the world, only the Paris headquarters is larger. Helbers has helped create a range of limited-edition items that are exclusive to the store. He intends to visit Asia more often.

'I find a lot of inspiration in Asia,' he says. 'I love ceremonial and there is so much of that in traditional Asian clothes.'

It's now apparent that the young boy who used to agitate his father so much has found his feet. Not that he is free of parental influences.

And the father who once screamed at him now comes to his star-studded shows and is a vociferous critic.

'He will come up to me and tell me I made the trousers too short or the jackets too tight,' says Helbers, with a mischievous grin. 'I guess fathers never change.'

Post