Rick Owens Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2012

Although the eruption of flames at the beginning of Rick Owens’ show suggested a sense of black magic, it turned out to be a much lighter and softer show. Dove-grey instead of pitch black, flowing dresses, layers and some great coats. Owens suggested a looser silhouette for dresses and tops that had more flow in their fit. Some of these looks were layered over drop-crotch shorts, which in Owens’ hands, were quite alluring and cool.

He also showed outerwear, including a few formfitting coats and cropped, draped leather jackets.

Rick Owens Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2012

No darkness and monk-like dressing at Rick Owens for fall 2012. His collection looked quite sharp, also chic and masculine. The signature look was a slim, dropcrotch pant in black with a white shirt or turtleneck. Of course there was some leather too, like his signature black jacket, but that even had a sartorial cut.

Rick Owens Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2012

It were not necessarily bright summer looks at Rick Owens, but it was a great collection. Lean column dresses, long tops combined with knee length shorts and all kind of other unexpected sculptural silhouettes were shown. All in black and white, of course.

With their hair flat on top of their hats, bleached eyebrows and orange-colored lips, Owens’ models looked anything but natural beauties. But of course that’s never the point at an Owens show.

The Californian designer likes his looks to be edgy, out of the ordinary. And that’s why he has such a solid fan base, ‘cause don’t we all wanna look special or at least of bit different from others?

Rick Owens Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2012

If I were a monk, I would want to wear the dresses Rick Owens designs for men. For example those long, strict, minimal dresses he presented today in Paris. Again Rick Owens stayed faithful to  his monastic aesthetic. His urban monks were dressed in linen-blend skirts and even sleeveless gowns. Although it seems it’s only for  his  cult followers. What was left for people with a daily job, were the jackets, either cut short in washed cottons, their buttoned cuffs splaying open, or elongated and aerodynamic.

Rick Owens Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2011

Rick Owens Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2011

Rick Owens presented a beautiful, almost intergalactical royal collection. The models looked as if they were goddesses from another world. No gothic darkness, but majestic beauties crowned with a hair comb in almost classic silhouettes in white, gray, brown and green.

Skirts were extreme, in volume or length, pearly toned jackets or cut away tops armored the upperbody. The architecture of cut, shape and form gave clarity to clothes, even when there were layers.

Rick Owens Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2010

With their hair combed backwards and their black (mean) eyes Rick Owens’ models looked like a tribe of wild, powerful women. Their asymmetrical clothes had the most unusual shapes. Some of the garments even seemed to exist of only a thick blanket in some way sewn to make it wearable.

The show felt dark in many ways. The runway was hardly lighted, the models wore dark make-up and, as always with Owens, the clothes had a very dark edge to them. Yet we must say it was pleasant to see some earthy shades of green, gray and brown, in stead of all the black we saw last season. Owens even used a splash of metallic in some of his designs.

His materials varied from fur to wool and leather. Most of the leather jackets had eye-catching standing collars, which made the models look even tougher.

A combination of a long waistcoat and a hoodie was repeated throughout the show several times. It came by in a gold/beige metallic version and in fur and leather. One of them had geometric patterns all over it. Those patterns and the zigzag leggings felt pretty renewing for Rick Owens.

Many of the clothes were decorated with small pointy pieces of (what looked like) plastic. The small hooks with which they were attached were clearly visible.

The models wore wedge boots and remarkable gloves with fur details. Their big leather belts made them look extra powerful.

So all though ladies will have to make their way to the Rick Owens store next season. Let’s see if they can make those tribal designs work without the crazy hair and make-up from the show.

Paris Catwalk Fashion Show fw2010: Rick Owens

Rick Owens continued to search the depths of the dark side with a fall-winter 2010 menswear collection of gender-bending, space age-y designs ready for the apocalypse. Androgynous models with enviable cheekbones skulked down the catwalk in bulky, tie-waisted trenches in lacquered microfiber or wrinkly microfiber with stiff, standup necklines and drop-crotched harem pants. Some wore ribbed turtlenecks with knee-length flaps in the front and back, while others sported leather tank tops that left their backs bare.

Overall, the collection, with its asymmetrical hemlines and great floppy flaps of fabric, strayed away from his usual somber palette, regarding some looks in light gray or shiny off-white.

Paris Fashion Week ss2010 Impressions #7

Rick Owens Catwalk Fashion Show ss2010

As in his earlier collections Rick Owens used a lot of black and white. Only this time most of the designs were a combination of the two instead of being all white or black. Therefore the collection seemed a bit more cheerful. The clothes were characterized by asymmetry and crazy shapes. Models wore shorts combined with long jackets and gilets. A few jackets had large bumps at the back that looked like enormous stitched-on backpacks. Some jumpsuits had legs so long the models were walking on the fabric. As seen before with Owens the funny suede saggy boots were back. Strange details were added on many of the designs. One was a long piece of fabric that slipped between the legs of the models as they walked the runway. Another was a black pom pom-looking item attached on the waists of some models. Although these details didn’t make a lot of sense, they proved Owens’ skill in experimenting with different shapes. (Tess van Daelen)

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