EXCERPT: RICK OWENS. FALL 2023 READY-TO-WEAR - PARIS FASHION WEEK

 "...The overall styles presented have been dulled down, stripped back into a more rawer decree, with their deeper earthy colors and rustic overtures.  Utilizing black traditionally as the base to Owens's signature label, he has tweaked those blackened tones to reflect, in its difficulty since black absorbs light, the insulated shimmer of his glam styles.   The collection feels like it's in conflict with itself.

Owens does indeed work best in his flirtation with the apocalypse, to be more attuned to its balance of devising the reality of our current global situation.  Seen in the many collections on and before 2021, the dire reality humanity is facing after the 2020 pandemic, that like so many times in history, has very much changed society for the worst.   We didn't come out wiser, nor have we coped with any learnt resilience, and this can be seen with the state of the world three years after the 2020 viral outbreak.  A new cold war, inflation, social discord and severe climate changes.   And it appears Owens's Fall 2023 collection is reflecting the general affliction facing us all.  Therefor it is not an impartial collection, as noted with the models and their black contact lenses, it feels more like a lopsided horror show.  Combatively masculine, brusque and belligerent.

I preferred Owens's sibyls, as they sit between order and chaos.  The wise and intuitive, who are not afraid of the end.  Rather than be consumed by it, they control it." 

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(A.Glass 2023) 

Full review: https://chiasmusmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/03/rick-owens-fall-2023-ready-to-wear.html?m=1