Excerpt: RICK OWENS. SPRING 2021 RTW

 

...The collection was held at the former casino, the Palazzo Del Casino in Lido, on the beach front overlooking the Adriatic sea, for the first time, since Owens moved to Paris in 2012, he has shown in Italy.  The 1930’s art deco structure, replacing his stalwart Palais de Tokyo setting, is now the new backdrop.  Filmed and presented without an audience, sans the runaway models and the skeleton crew assisting with the production. 

Continuing with the running theme from the men’s Spring 2021 collection, of Phlegethon, the river of fire in Hades that burns, but does not consume. Owens awareness, as a designer, of the hell state that is now the world – yet hell is also, paradoxically, very personal, so the collection is vastly more darker and apocalyptic than his previous showings of late.  Returning the Ready-to-Wear styles to their Gothic and dystopic stylizations, but with a renewed vigor.

It is certainly one the toughest and most challenging Owens collections to date, thigh high leather boots, draped avant-garde aesthetics, models wearing face masks, both as an acceptance and defiance. It has a warrior pose, clad in Owens layered styles. Mostly black and white, achromatic as a base, with pink, which works so well against black as a darker hue, also seen are the slightness of reds with green yellows.  Ensuring that it is the most crafted ensemble I’ve seen from him in a long time, a true return to form, which he is renown for. Allowing his personal edge to be amplified, lockdown or not, runway crowd or none, the impact lies in its resolution."

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Full review: https://chiasmusmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/04/rick-owens-spring-2021-rtw-reviewed.html 

(A.Glass 2020)