BEAUTY: Clothing--Rick Owens

The incomparable Rick Owens...I feel he is the absolute unofficial king of avant garde fashion. Here are his words for "Gethsemane," his FW '21-'22 collection, which was filmed in front of a 1965 Mustang parked on the seaside in Venice, where he and Michèle Lamy have been quarantining. And it is another outstanding collection...I of course love the thigh-high platform boots, some in a grungy, Oscar the Grouch-type green fur, and many pieces are oversized to present the wearer as a human tank. This was done on purpose, to express Owens' ideas for the collection which takes on the ideas of rage and masculinity. He said, "I thought this morning, Does it feel a little tone deaf because now all of a sudden everything has shifted? Now that it’s all about optimism? But that dark element has not disappeared. And the fact that it came so close, this moral war, is horrifying...I’m always conscious of my own aggression. And the older that I get, I feel like I should have reached a level of serenity that I just haven’t; I get impatient, I get itchy, I snap at people sometimes. Aggression is something that I’m fascinated with because I’m constantly conscious of wrestling with it, personally. And I think that that’s true of every man." 

GETHSEMANE WAS THE GARDEN JESUS PRAYED IN THE NIGHT BEFORE THE CRUCIFIXION; A PLACE OF UNEASY REPOSE AND DISQUIET BEFORE A FINAL RECKONING. WE’RE ALL LIVING A TENSE PERIOD IN HISTORY WAITING FOR A RESOLUTION, BE IT CATASTROPHIC OR RATIONAL, IN A SUSPENSE THAT FEELS ALMOST BIBLICAL IN ITS DRAMA – PRIMITIVE AND PROFANE.

JKTS AND COATS IN LEATHER AND SHEARLING THAT SEAL THE BODY WITH INTEGRATED GLOVES AND ZIP UP OVER THE FACE SPEAK OF PROTECTION AND WITHDRAWAL. HORROR.

SKIN TIGHT LEATHER BODYSUITS UNDERPIN MOST LOOKS, SOME WITH THE TOP PULLED DOWN TO HANG OFF THE HIPS. SHARP, EXAGGERATED SHOULDERS ON TAILORED COATS AND CROPPED BOMBERS MOCK MALE CONSERVATISM CAREENING OFF THE RAILS.

HEAVY RECYCLED CASHMERE SWEATERS TWIST AROUND THE BODY – THEY CAN PULL UP TO DOUBLE OR PEEL DOWN TO TRAIL OFF THE BODY. THE SAME YARNS ARE USED TO KNIT ROOMY BLANKET- SIZED HOODED ROBES. BIBLICAL.

THESE HOODED ROBES ARE REPEATED IN DUVET WHICH ALSO COMES IN CROPPED JKTS PEELING OFF THE TORSO.

TIGHTY-WHITIES WITH PENTAGRAM FLYS ADD MORE UNHINGED MALE ENERGY WHEN WORN WITH THIGH HIGH COWHIDE FUR BOOTS – WITH A PLATFORM HEEL OR A BALLAST SOLE – UNDER COATS MADE FROM RECYCLED PLASTIC WASTE WITH THE SLEEVES RIPPED OFF. HAIRY LEGS, ORGANIC PENTAGRAM UNDERWEAR, AND JUMBO RECYCLED COATS WITH PANDEMIC MASKS – A ROUGH SKETCH OF OUR BARBARIC CONTRADICTORY TIMES.

DRAGGING OVERSIZED JEANS ARE IN 16OZ BLACK WARP/BLACK WEFT/BLACK SELVEDGE DENIM CUSTOM WOVEN FOR US BY YAMAASHI ORIMONO (EST. 1945) ON VINTAGE SAKAMOTO SHUTTLE LOOMS. THIS IS FROM AN ONGOING DRKSHDW CAPSULE MADE IN JAPAN.

THE RAMONES WERE ALWAYS ONE OF MY FAVORITE BANDS – LOUD AND DUMB CAN ALSO BE CONCISE AND ELEGANT... THEY HAD THE WHOLE PACKAGE – THE RIGHT ATTITUDE, THE RIGHT CHORDS, THE RIGHT HIP BONES, THE RIGHT GRAPHICS, THE RIGHT HAIR, AND THE RIGHT SHOES – CONVERSE. YEARS AGO, I DID MY OWN DUMBER AND LOUDER VERSION OF THESE SNEAKERS AND THIS SEASON CONVERSE AGREED TO GRAFT MY CRUDE VERSION ONTO THEIR ORIGINAL AND MUTATE THEIR SIGNATURE TOE CAP. THE TONGUE IS EXTENDED AND THE LABEL AND LICENSE PLATES ARE ALTERED TO REFLECT THE DRKSHDW COLLABORATION.

THE SOUNDTRACK IS AN EXCLUSIVE EXTENDED REMIX OF ‘HELLRAP’ BY GHOSTEMANE THAT SPEAKS TO THE MALE SUPPRESSED RAGE ON EVERY SIDE OF THE MORAL DIVIDE..

https://www.rickowens.eu/