Rick Owens. womens Spring/Summer 2026 - Paris Fashion Week.

  

I am curious about transgenerational timelines, and how decades can be skipped, and/or we regress to another timeline as a recopy, rarely do we embrace a future, cue the 1950s imprint that we embraced in the early 2000s ala the expanded Middle Class, conservatism and mortgage debt, and it been with us ever since, albeit probably in the midst of  collapse,  just look at the current state of the world politically, as the Far Right bears down.  And any rebellious aspects that pop up have been novatilzed and rebranded, thus losing its relevance, further still, one could argue that early 1990s grunge scenes, laid the groundwork to early 2000s hipster looks with its feigned entrepreneurism.  Marketed as so called early adult 'youth' cultures, they disappear just as quickly, without much social impact. 

As noted in my review of Rick Owens mens Spring/Summer 2026 show in late June of this year, Owens is one the last remaining of the independent fashion designers, and still showcasing at Paris Fashion Week every season and year.  Which is remarkable, when the whole fashion industry has been cornered by Kering and LVMH, plus a collection of other high profile holding companies.  Owens has held the line for his signature label, and one cannot imagine how it would be if he was to leave or otherwise, although it has tantalizing possibilities, that someone could be mentored in the shadows.  But, Rick Owens is Rick Owens, and like Ann Demeulemeester the famed Belgium designer who sold her brand name to businesswoman Anne Chapelle in 2005, who then resold it to an Italian entrepreneur Claudio Antonioli in 2020.  Selling and reselling a signature label, can cause a brand to become cursed.  And maybe Owens, to avoid this, will instil, while he's still alive, an alpha and omega onto his label. 

Why all this talk in regards to the legacy of Rick Owens?  Well, there appears to be a sombre resolve to keep doing what he is doing, and retirement does not seem to be on the horizon.  Owens turns 64 in November, and Michèle Lamy, Owen's wife, is 81, which makes them both 'boomers'.   Distinctly original, and unique, Owens doomsday take, which seems to have become more pronounced after the 2020 pandemic, is now settling back into his Temple like fixation at the Palais de Tokyo 1930s, Art Deco monolith imprint, with both the mens and womens Spring/Summer collection being titled as "TEMPLE".   The doomsday has been replaced with the sombre, as the models descend into the pool like fountain area of the Palais de Tokyo.  

Yet, his latest womens collection reminds me of the Owens's doomy oracle witches that walked the beaches of Lido, Venice during the lockdowns across Italy and Europe, it was Owens foretelling that one crisis is usually followed by several, so the was a prophetic overture to the 2020 collections, and it appears to be projected again, despite the use of water as metaphor to be cleansed and reborn.  The all black contact lenses, which is now an Owens fixture for his models, sets the precedence of these dark, Melinoe esque and brooding styles, with hints of amatory energy throughout.  Maybe Owens is relitatring that we are still in a state of flux.  And even if we're at the end.   

There maybe no beginning.

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(A.Glass)