Rick Owens. Men's Fall 2024 - Paris Fashion Week.

In February 2023 I reviewed the Moncler show in all of its absurdity, as a grandiose showing at the Olympia London, for London Fashion Week.  Suffice to say Rick Owens falls under the Moncler banner as one their collaborative designers, which showcased his creativity via the conglomerate owned mountaineering brand.  And for Moncler's Fall 2023 he designed a sealed in vault like, insulted and padded double bed, to which, as an ironic and symbolic centerpiece, to sleep out the next crisis.  And irony, which may or may not offer us all a warning, from its harbingers intuition, that these crisis are coming in thick and fast.  As noted from my Rick Owens reviews since he returned to Paris from Lido in Venice, as the ongoing COVID pandemic has been left to fester and mutate every year, that an all clear and economic 'freedom' has tentatively been granted and managed by the infinite wisdom of our lawmakers, albeit the vaccine boosters every year.   The human race has stepped back into the chaotic new normal, with wars and genocide breaking out all over the place, from Gaza's destruction by a maniacal Israel, Ukraine/Russia bloody stalemate, South East Asia on the brink, destabilisation in Central America and Africa.  Climate change kicking in, heatwaves and harsh winters.   Sealing, whilst shielding yourself off from a world at the threshold of ruination would be, even if metaphorically, a wise thing to do. 

Owens, as one of the last of the Avant-garde designers, is a particularly poignant reference, within the reemergence of the said aesthetic which occured from the early 2000s.  Inspired mostly by Japanese designers Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo, who can lay claim to the trend dating back to 1977. But as a niche fashion market, these artisan styles with their rustic and futuristic overtures, would indeed struggle to attain market viability.  Be it the costs regardless of being a fashion designer, despite its romanticism, is an extraordinary expensive ambition.  In all hope of an exclusive clientele list and buyers interest, time and money is the challenge, that cast many to the wayside.  And if you do not have connections, without any compromise.  A brand's survival rate is quite low.  So, it is commendable that Owens has held his own line for over two decades.

Another noted aspect to Owens unique stylisations, is that he rarely crosses over into fluidity between masculine and feminine styles.  The shows, are quite distinguished.  With his male ensembles fixed deeply, at least in a homoerotic manifestation, within the masculine.  As the women's showpieces, as seen from previous runways exposes, are leaning towards the Oracles of Doom, graceful necromancers that emerge from the void, whilst being engulfed by its darkness.  The men's collection hold a more aggressive tune.  A defiance, to which overshadows his Oracles, in their acceptance that we are at the beginning of the end.  Despite being warned.  Maybe we have it coming.

I like the Doomsday ethos of Owens's femininity, yet as the clever designer that the is, the masculine maybe seen as determined beacon, appearing to offer a lesson that we must defy our predicament of natures disregard, and our own folly.  And see it through.  But can he do it without instigating more destruction?  Owens Fall 2024 collection offers an ambiguous clue, holding the show at his own house and studio in Paris, as a way of showing humility, and in Owens words, "A respectful move in observance of the barbaric times we are all living through".  The aggressive elements of the Owens past men's shows have been toned down.  In his latest array, the models are more shielded, padded and protected from the world.  In an escapist way.  Despite an illusive counterculture, which is yet to materialize, humanity remains at its 11th hour.  Maybe the true rebellion will not be in defiance, but unplugging and escaping from all this turmoil.  A complete rejection.  Are we brave enough to do it? 

The Fall collection has Owens warping, inflating and exaggerating perspective, utilizing recycled rubber and bondage wear.  Which is an experiment in posthuman and body modification, as least as a fashion aesthetic.  There is a mutated darkness to this collection, to which Owens offers optimism in a newer perspective, by saying that there is a "Utopian hope for someplace better".

Yet, we are already living in a dystopia, but it is feigned with technocrat arrogance that all is well through our digital relays.  Maybe the solution is, as mentioned within Owens modification of aesthetical reality, without plugging into cyberspace.  We just turn it all off.  Crash it.  Reset it.   While wearing a stylized piece from Owens collections, sitting in a park and smiling at a flower.  As oblivion awaits. 

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(A.Glass 2024)