HELMUT LANG SEEN BY SUNIL GUPTA In 1976, Sunil Gupta picked up a camera and started “cruising” Christopher Street, a stretch of Greenwich Village that was home to a newly emboldened post-stonewall queer community. Gupta had arrived in New York city from Montreal to pursue an MBA, but soon abandoned a business degree to focus on photography at the new school. He would go on to take his place with the most accomplished artists and cultural curators of his generation, exploring the way identities reveal themselves under various sexual, geographical, and historical conditions. The Christopher Street photographs cemented a lifelong dedication to portraying people who have been denied a space to be themselves.
For Helmut Lang, Gupta returns to Christopher Street, and captures friends and collaborators of the brand in a new series of photographs featuring the Helmut Lang A/W 2020 collection.
The Helmut Lang a A/W 2020 collection, designed by Thomas Cawson, creative director Helmut Lang Jeans, continues the brand’s codes of utility, civility and deviance.
Creative director, jeans: Thomas Cawson Photographer: Sunil Gupta Creative direction: Brian Phillips Stylist: Helena Tejedor at cadence Casting: Finlay at the establishment Hair: Akki at Art Partner Makeup:Fara Homidi at Together Company Manicurist: Dawn Sterling Shoot production: Wei li Wang at Hudson Hill Public relations: Black Frame Exhibition production: Replica
CAST: ATTILA SÁRKÖZI BARBARA VALENTE CAMERON LEE PHAN DEBRA SHAW ISAAC POWELL JAMILY WERNKE MEURE LIZZIE ALEXANDRA MARC HUNDLEY MEL OTTENBERG NOAH CARLOS PARKER KIT HILL RAHM BOWEN RASSAN WYZARD SILVIA PRADA SLAVA MOGUTIN YESIM AK YILAN HUA JACOB BIXENMAN
ABOUT SUNIL GUPTA: SUNIL GUPTA (B. 1953 NEW DELHI, INDIA) IS A PHOTOGRAPHER, CURATOR, WRITER AND ACTIVIST BASED IN LONDON. GUPTA’S WORK IS IN THE PERMANENT COLLECTIONS OF THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART (NY, USA) TATE BRITAIN (UK), PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART (USA), TOKYO METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHY (JAPAN), THE ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM (TORONTO), GEORGE EASTMAN HOUSE (ROCHESTER, USA), ARTS COUNCIL OF GREAT BRITAIN (LONDON), NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA (OTTAWA), HARVARD UNIVERSITY (MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES).