“The clothes I make are my autobiography. They are the calm elegance I want to get to and the damage I’ve done on the way. They are an expression of tenderness and raging ego. They are an adolescent idealization and its inevitable defeat,” says Rick Owens in 2018 in an interview about his solo show held in Milan - ‘Subhuman Inhuman Superhuman’. American designer prefers to think of his designs as more of a sculpture-like creations than what people define as art. It causes lots of his garments to resemble modern glassy buildings or heavy-looking brutalist architectural designs. Geometrical forms play a crucial role in Rick Owens brand’s DNA, creating a dichotomy and duality of a silhouette when paired with chaotic fabric draping and bold materials.
Spring/Summer 2019 Collection is an ode to symmetrical shapes and linear forms, featuring multiple architecture-inspired concepts, like so-called ‘Brutalist sequins’ - systemic panels of painted canvas that entirely formed a couple of garments like pants and capes. The show was closed by 7 Russian Constructivism-inspired looks, 3D heavy installations that were intended to be used as wearable tents. “They’re nylon parkas and they are going to be shipped as nylon parkas, with the poles separately. So you can build them if you want to. But what you are going to see on the hanger is a nice, soft nylon parka—the poles represent what this parka can be. That’s the idea of hope; that is what the poles represent in a way,” said Owens about spectacular pieces.
In the latest S/S23 Collection Owens lets go of his passion for geometry to seize more ethereal and impressionist designs, which also serve a certain purpose in brand’s image creation - yet the mathematical mind of the designer and his ability to engage such sharp and linear forms in his designs stays inimitable. Let’s hope for this source of inspiration to come back in the upcoming seasons and for now, let’s admire how the designer’s vision reveals itself in different ways.
Written by Julia Siechowicz