Rick Owens. Men's Fall 2025 - Paris Fashion Week

Rick Owens has spent just over 21 years working between Paris and his factory in Concordia sulla Secchia, near Modena, Northern Italy, when he and his wife Michèle Lamy relocated to Paris from Los Angeles in 2003.  Solidifying himself, via the Owenscorp banner, which may or maynot have an irony attached to it, that Owens very much is the last, or in fact could be the very last, of the independent fashion designers still standing.   More so that Avant-garde, neon-gothic, drapey, industrial looking, dystopic and exclusive deconstructed styles of the early 2000s, that came to an abrupt end in 2018.  Which probably had a lot to do with a many brands pricing themselves out, yes allow irony to weave its imprint here, in a post climate change, turmoutrous, dystopia style society, that is well and truly forming before our eyes. 

I have been reviewing Rick Owens collections since 2012, and was able to write a retrospective in 2020 for a U.K. fashion magazine of Owens shrewd beginnings of his signature label which originated in L.A. in 1994, concluding with his first New York runway show in 2002.  With Owens a year later, reinventing himself, after his relocation to Paris, while setting up his factory in Concordia, Italy.  Which has been an ongoing observation of Owens, to this day.

And it has to be noted, there are at times a paradoxical contrarian sentiment to Owens stylizations, apart from maintaining the dark, gothic and doomsdayish ethos, there seems to an insertion of contradiction, or at least an out-of-place overlay, be it from the show notes and press for the runaway shows, that doesn't always seem to reflect Owens's own stygian reflection, as an overture of oblivion.  From Owens 'doomsday oracles', to his male counterparts, that are beginning to look like scantily clad vampiric warriors.  The spectra of death is an ever present shadow at an Owens show, noted with his recent grandiose Hollywood Babylon shows that were orchestrated, outside the Palais de Tokyo, as a large cult like funeral possession.  And for his Fall 2025 collection, Owens has returned to the underground bunker like interior of the Palais de Tokyo, the stalwart 1930s landmark which Owens has claimed as an eternal backdrop for his collections of the last 10 years.

Titling his latest array as "Concordians", Owens supercharged goth masculine appears to be slightly toned down, but only slightly, with a feminine infusion ala in its aesthetical similarity to Owens 'doomsday witches and orcales' of the last 5 years pre and post the global pandemic of 2020.  Concordian being the Roman goddess of societal harmony, with male models holding onto stylized clutch handbags, which is Owens collaboration with the luxury Italian luggage company Rimowa, as they walk to the sound track, played multilingually in reverse, of David Bowie's 1977 hit "Heroes".  The presentation plays out more as a homage to the goddess Discordia, rather than Concordia.  Thus, is Owens awareness of philosophical cues within the realms of dichotomy, as globally, governments begin to embrace proto-fascism to sow stability over a discontented populus, it may actually induce further instability. 

Also noted with Owens's Fall 2025 collection is the ever appealing androgyneity, of the vampiric masculine.  Brooding, mysterious and fluid within its sexuality.  Able to tap into the carnal desires of the feminine, as a reflection of darkness.  In this case, inside a neon lit brutalists style bunker.  Sealed off from the light.

___

(A.Glass 2025)