Rick Owens RTW Spring ‘16
She walks through the concrete underground of the Palais de Tokyo in company, another body strapped to her, dangling weightless. She is transported not by a constraining bandage, which desires to undermine the human body, but harnessed with a “loving ribbon”. It’s a stunt that initially conceals the clothes in Rick Owens recent collection, allowing an emphasis on the message, but it’s a directed obscurity. The illusion of control isn’t about the burden or the baggage that we carry, says Owens, but of “women raising women, women becoming women, and women supporting women”. Titled ‘Cyclops’, the theme glorifies the female for what she truly is, a mythical creature.
The anti-conformist fashion designer is celebrating “sisterhood and motherhood, and regeneration” in his latest collection, where women are supporting each other, literally. In between models showcasing his collection, women bear one another, suspended, upside down. The aerial distortions of the figure mimic cradling and birth, the act that can only be performed by a woman. Its “a world of women I know little about and can only attempt to amuse in my own small way,” says Owens. The performance inspires a fear or respect through its intensity and its focused vision. ‘This land is mine’ is a phrase sung repeatedly by three vocalists, solemnly stood in an unreachable glass box. It is intense and outlandish, an expression that Owens has used on the runway before; earlier this year he purposefully created controversy by “framing the penis”, essentially glorifying the male procreative parts. |
Photo: wwd.com
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Now the pendulum has swung, and the focus is all female.
Photo: wwd.com
The sheer organza silk tunic with its ripples of fabric is “as close to floral as I’ll probably ever get,” says Owens. The natural folds of the flower are part of a symbol that is often represented by the female reproductive parts. Her hair flows naturally behind her, a bare face.
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Photo: wwd.com
The shoulder is sharply defined in an asymmetric dress with sculpted metallic leather proportions. The form is organic and has no method; It conveys the idea that, “like human nature, were imperfect and raw.”
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Photo: wwd.com
Leather is waxed in a process similar to drum skins here to create a lustrous touch, a sensuality related to the female body. It’s nourished and soft. He uses women for his show that are “not beautiful by conventional fashion standards: to show that beauty is also a story of self-confidence, attitude, and it can work”.
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Video: Rick Owens YouTube channel
RUNWAY GALLERY
Photos: wwd.com