After yesterday’s Rick Owens show of the spring-summer 2016 season at Paris Fashion Week, the foreign press gushing all night witticisms: “backpacks made of people”, “model accessories”, “where to buy such a clothes”, etc. The reason was a strange defile, during which some models carried others on themselves with the help of special straps on suits. Moreover, those who were carried were located in rather bizarre poses. Oddities - Rick Owens's horse: remember at least the story of the naked penis of models that were watched by the guests of the show along with the 2014-2015 men's autumn-winter collection. Then the fashion designer said that he wanted to show a world in which there is no shame and in which it is not customary to ask “Why so small?” at the sight of the male genital organ in a "calm" state.
Defile with “accessory models” is yet another critical statement by Owens. While home-grown Internet fashion observers joked about how problematic it would be to get into public transport in such a suit, the fashion designer told the press that his show was an ode to the power of a modern woman, a metaphor for her hard share. “This show is dedicated to the female world, about which I have rather modest ideas: motherhood, sisterhood, solidarity. “How a woman becomes a woman, how a woman brings up a woman and how women support each other,” Rick explained. By the way, the guests of the show didn’t even need a transcript of the author’s thought - it was replaced by the performance of the singer Eski Mtungwazi, who throughout the defile repeated the song from the movie “Exodus”, the words of which emphasized what was happening on the catwalk: “I know that I can be strong with God's help ".
Human knapsacks at Rick Owens. She ain "t heavy, she" s my sister. pic.twitter.com/H7pltsJpaq
- Matthew Schneier (@MatthewSchneier) October 1, 2015
You don’t have to go far for inspiration for collections or for staging fashion shows: perhaps the whole of 2015 can be called the year of struggle with misogyny, gender stereotypes and sexual objectification - well, or at least attempts to fight, both successful and not so. They expect no less from fashion in this field than from politicians and officials. This is business: if you ignore the current demands of the company, you will not sell anything. And the most mobile players understand this very well and use it with might and main: they remove transgender people in advertising campaigns, more actively than usual dress up men in feminine things, release clothes with feminist slogans, etc.
The only question is whether the benefits of social campaigns will appear and whether speculation on sensitive topics will look like parodies. On the one hand, the models that took part in the Rick Owens show found the moral and physical strength in themselves to walk the catwalk - in the era of the information society, models are no longer meek hangers, their voice is heard, and they are not obliged to do things that seem to them implicitly immoral. But, on the other hand, no matter how exciting yesterday’s show, its organizers have only one question: why most of the fastened models were fixed in such a position that a huge number of people showed photos of the show with lesbian sex in the “69” position, scandalous sculptures-furniture of Allen Jones and BDSM, but not with female solidarity?
Designer Rick Owens is considered Gothic and black, but he prefers to call his sculptural clothing minimalist. To understand the issue, Alena Nagornaya met with Rick Owens in his Paris studio.
When he smiles, he looks like a black sphinx cat. High cheekbones, long black hair, muscular tattooed arms and a casual manner of dressing - designer Rick Owens doesn’t look younger than his age, he was born in 1961, but rather atypical.
“Who said it was disgusting, who decided what size the male genitalia should be and why? This is a story about getting rid of someone’s imposed rules, ”he says of the Rick Owens male-fashion show fall-winter 2015/2016, which released models stripped below the belt on the catwalk. “But also about the naturalness that connects us with nature: imagine yourself in a dance with a scarf in the middle of a flowering meadow - this is a story about beauty, love, acceptance and grace.”
Against the background of the incessant singing of birds outside the window, his words sound bewitching. "Aren't you cold?" Rick asks, pointing to the large, open window behind me. We talk in the room for working filming and meeting with the press, on the second floor in the house of Owens and Michelle Lamy - his wife and muse. This mansion on Palace Square Bourbon was once built by Napoleon as a gift to one of his generals. In later times, it housed the headquarters of the French Socialist Party. The main working spaces of the brand are also located in the house of Owens and Lamy - the owners are always surrounded by close associates, dressed in monochrome dresses and leather vests of Rick Owens.
Rick Owens clothes do not turn a woman into a doll. The designer rather represents her as a priestess in sculptural robes
“Of course, I was thinking about the reaction that I’m calling, demonstrating the male genitalia at the show. It's no secret that I like to bring drama and tension into my defile. And here I deliberately wanted to add provocation and get all this malice in return. A man is afraid of those things that are not subject to his control, but at the same time accompany him all his life: sex, death, love - these are the sacraments that create the magic of life and serve as the deepest motives for actions. I want to believe that what I do is still important, ”says the designer.
Rick Owens is always looking for provocative approaches in everything, including defile. At the spring-summer 2014 show, forty step-dancers of non-model sizes appeared on the catwalk in the dance. In the fall-winter 2014/2015 fashion show, Rick Owens employees of the showroom participated on a par with the models: women of different complexions and different ages appeared several times on the catwalk in the same outfits. Then followed a scandalous male show with exposed genitals. The next women's show - Fall-Winter - 2015/2016 - Rick Owens directed in a different manner. Models, among whom were Ukrainian Irina Kravchenko and Ella Zadavysvichka, appeared on the catwalk in closed draped outfits decorated with fur and embroidered with sequins. Through one, their faces were completely covered with gold and silver, which created the effect of a live mask. “Women’s nudity has been researched so many times that I don’t even consider it as a topic for my shows, and this was another argument in favor of a man’s fashion show,” says Rick. - I noticed that men calmly perceive a naked female body, while they themselves, uncovering, feel uncomfortable. I really don’t think that for anyone it would be a big disappointment if we did something like this during the women's show. But I'm glad that we managed to maintain a balance. "
Despite the provocative nature of Rick Owens fashion shows, the designer is close to the idea of \u200b\u200b“hidden luxury”. He likes everything Hermès does for his “restraint and great taste” and for the fact that this House never attracts attention with “cheap tricks”.
Owens emphasizes: he does not create conceptual things. His concept is just that you should not be overly conceptual. He loves simplicity and always tries to explain his love on the example of different directions in art. “All this has already been said before me. The work of the minimalist Donald Judd and the work of artists of the Baroque era are equally valuable today. I’m just moving in the direction of Judd, and not da Vinci, let’s say so. ”
The lower and upper dresses are made of wool, leather boots, all - Rick Owens
Rick Owens clothes do not turn a woman into a doll. The designer is more likely to represent her as a priestess in sculptural robes. For the first time, a large catwalk welcomed long sweater coats, sculptural dresses, baggy corduroy trousers and brutal leather jackets by Rick Owens in February 2002, when under the patronage of Style.com, American Vogue and its editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, the brand’s first show was held in New York Week fashion.
A year after the debut fashion show, Owens accepted the invitation to become the creative director of the old French fur fashion house Revillon (their collaboration lasted from 2003 to 2006) and moved from Los Angeles to Paris, where he presented the fall-winter collection - 2003/2004.
“Arranging a show in New York, you immediately attract the attention of an international audience and get involved in a big competition. And yet, despite Owens’s many successes in Los Angeles, it was this collection that marked the brand’s official breakthrough on the world’s fashion scene - thanks to its strong yet subtle Gothic aesthetics, ”said Sarah Mauer, Vogue.com columnist and one of the most influential critics in the fashion world, began a review of the first Paris fashion show Rick Owens. True, it ended not so rosyly: “As for the total look, it cannot be said that something has changed in the Owens universe. The stylistic niche that he occupies is more suitable for Belgian sensibility; as for the Paris debut, it took place mainly thanks to the credit of trust earned by the brand earlier. ”
Paris did not immediately accept Owens: the fashion press continually pointed to the marginality of his style. And yet he did not change himself and managed to prove the opposite. Today, Rick Owens shows are among the most anticipated at Paris Fashion Week.
“In the modern world, everything is crowded. Too many people, too much money, everything happens too fast. Therefore, it seems to me that it is impossible to repeat my path these days. My biggest desire has always been to become better, and the main dream is to bring to perfection all that we have already done at Rick Owens. To create even more beautiful and unusual things is what I strive for, ”says the designer.
Large mass-market brands copy its drapes and asymmetry, thanks to it sports esthetics became a part of big fashion, Owens brought the conceptual fashion to the mainstream, spawned many apologists for his style, created an empire of “hidden luxury” and a cult of belonging to it.
Unlike many fashion houses that are distributed between LVMH and Kering, Rick Owens is a successful independent brand that does not belong to any of the major conglomerates and has stood out in the fashion industry for 20 years.
“The ability to express oneself is real luxury. My life is different from the life of those who work for large fashion houses and must create thirty collections a year. I don’t have to explain to others what I’m going to do. ” An important role in the fate of Rick Owens was played by the muse and wife of designer Michelle Lamy. She once managed a successful restaurant project in Los Angeles, but supported Owens' decision to move to Paris, sold her business and today she successfully oversees the fur line and furniture line in their company.
The bottom dress is made of wool, the top is made of wool, cotton and leather, sandals are made of leather and metal, all are Rick Owens
“Everything that Michelle says is so wise and true,” Owens admits, “that at some point I simply stopped consulting with her about my future collections. Otherwise, I risk losing my own vision of what I am doing. ” Of course, in the lines that Michelle creates and in the work on which Rick tries not to interfere, there is a lot from Owens. But in his works, the influence of Lamy is felt - she has a special style in clothes and accessories, she often appears in streetstyle blogs around the world.
A few days after the show, I was invited to a private party, which Rick Owens traditionally hosts after the show. This time it was held in the bohemian district of Mare, where the brand’s showroom had recently moved. The guests are mainly employees of the brand and its customers. At the entrance I was met by a security guard - the only person here who was not dressed in Rick Owens. Inside, no one was sitting at the bar: everyone was dancing and waiting for the designers. As soon as they crossed the threshold, the miniature Lamy, the muse with a tattooed face, and the athletically built Owens set off to dance with minimal techno. Thus begins a new season in the world of Rick Owens.
Style: Olga Yanul
Hairstyles: Ante Pažanin
Makeup: Saša Joković
Photographer Assistant: Martin brkljaca
Stylist assistant: Ana milin
Model:Marina Krtinic Cooper / Fox Fashion Agency / Women NY
Thanks: Zadar region tourist board
To shock the audience, to make a real show out of each show is what Rick Owens can do like no other. The designer presented the first catwalk collection in New York back in 2002 - it was then sponsored by Anna Wintour, who discerned the future of American fashion in the fashion designer. From there, Owens moved to Paris, and since then, representatives of the fashion industry and all those who are simply not indifferent to fashion are waiting for his show every year. Each line of the fashion designer is a discussion on topical issues, a fashionable philosophical essay on the problems of society and the planet. In honor of the 56th anniversary of the designer, we decided to recall the 5 most unusual and ambitious shows of the Rick Owens brand, which are still being talked about.
VICIOUS, Spring-Summer 2014
Women's collection
The women's collection, called Vicious, turned into an 11-minute performance by dancers. Aggressive and strong, they demonstrated a new line of designer. Many critics have noticed that for the energetic performance of the dancers it was hard to discern the brand’s clothing itself. However, perhaps this was the whole point - do not look for meaning in every product. These are just clothes.
VICIOUS, Spring-Summer 2014
Men's collection
At the fashion show of the men's collection of the same year, the designer left the models alone - this time the show was arranged by the musical group Winny Puhh from Estonia. To the sounds of heavy metal, the models presented a new collection. Attention was most attracted by drummers spinning on the wall. In the end, the whole group was completely hanging in the air - in the literal sense of the word.
SPHINX, Fall-Winter 2015/16
Men's collection
Perhaps the most scandalous collection of the designer came precisely during this period. This time there were no concerts and performances - attention was drawn to the clothes that Rick put on models in a not quite traditional way. As a result, cuts on the throat were in the genital area of \u200b\u200bmodels, which, by the way, were without underwear. There is no point in describing the situation further, but what the guests of the show saw was then discussed for a very long time.
CYCLOPS, Spring-Summer 2016
Women's collection
In the spring-summer 2016 collection, the designer emphasized female power. To demonstrate this, Owens sent models to the catwalk that were tied and strapped to other girls. So the designer told the story that all women have to bear a heavy burden - all of them are responsible for raising another woman, whether it be a daughter or sister. They are in solidarity and always support each other.
Animation, a slight laugh and a shy giggle accompanied the show of the ready-to-wear collection of US designer Rick Owens for the fall-winter 2015 season. On the Fashion Show catwalk in Paris came men in long clothes.
Special slots were made below the belt in sand-colored hoodies - and, in such places that the audience could perfectly see that the handsome men representing the models of Rick Owens had absolutely nothing under their clothes. Part of masculine dignity even occasionally peeked out of the slits.
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Fashion editors sitting in the front row at fashion shows usually just raise an eyebrow when they see a “nudity” on the catwalk, but the male flesh on the Rick Owens show shocked even them.
Well, the audience was literally stirred up by an emotional wave caused by an outright defile. After the fashion show on social networks, the popular hashtag #dickowens immediately appeared (a free translation is “a member of Owens”).
We add that bare parts of the body can often be seen at world-class fashion shows. But more often it’s still female breasts, nipples, but not male members.
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American designer Rick Owens is a very curious person. He is 52 years old, born in California. He is the owner of his own designer label Rick Owens, which appeared in the mid-nineties.
Held him begin his career as a spouse - the famous party girl 90s Michelle Lamy, famous now. She sold her cabaret restaurant to start her husband's career, and fully supports him in business, acting as a muse and inspirer.
By the way, it is she who dictates the rules of future fashion trends. So it is quite possible that in 10-15 years, men in clothes with slots in “causal places” will appear on the streets of cities. And we will not be at all surprised at this ...
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