Reconsidering Rick Owens

I wouldn’t wear Rick Owens’ designs.

I think Rick Owens is a great designer and has upended the representation of silhouette and gender in fashion.  However, his mostly dark monochrome looks don’t jibe with my sensibilities.  Because of that, I wrote him off for a long time, dismissing him as a mediocre designer.  What a mistake.

My change - and opening - of mind began when I saw an Instagram post from The Sartorialist himself, Scott Schuman, from Rick Owens’ F/W 17 show at Paris Fashion Week this February.  Schuman captured two models striding down a runway wearing puffy coats with tails dragging on the floor and wide-legged bell-bottom pants that covered up most of their shoes.  Owens is known for his austere color schemes, but these models sported muted greens, blues, oranges and grays.  Though they looked like colorful offspring of the Michelin Man and Darth Vader, there was something I liked and appreciated about these absurd looks that won't find their way to the street.  The color pairings were fresh, changing keen observers’ paradigm of what goes with what.  For instance, light teal and olive green are complementary, and as long as the former is muted by the latter, they work well together.  Imagine an olive suit with a light teal shirt and orange ascot: This rakish combination would pay homage to the color schemes of Owens’ F/W 17 collection while staying within the confines of an everyday ensemble.  Once I buy an olive suit, I’m going to try it.

Last weekend, I also read an interview in which Owens talked about his vision with Purple Magazine’s Olivier Zahm.  What struck me was his open mind and his willingness and desire to absorb the new.  His curiosity makes him a polymath - Owens and his wife, Michéle, started a furniture company recently, where the designs are reconstructable, functional works of art - and his willingness to make fashion inclusive is a welcome change from the rigid, hierarchical structure of runway shows.  In his shows, Owens doesn’t employ pretty boys and girls as models, but people who are gender nonconforming or defy gender norms, people who embody the look and spirit his clothing channels.  Though the price points aren’t as inclusive as the casting, Owens’ democratization of sexuality in clothing has been copied by fast fashion labels like Zara - who recently launched a unisex line - and is a positive political stance in a day and age where such bold statements are needed.

Rick Owens' F/W 17 show at Paris Fashion Week.

Having trumpeted the praises of style so much, I forget about the how fashion dictates timeless looks of the future.  Not all fashions stick around, but the trends that do become style.  Furthermore, the runway is a great place to learn about silhouettes and color combinations.  Designers take risks that may backfire, but every once in awhile they present something that shifts the tide.  Rick Owens is the most recent designer to do so, and his imprint is found in nearly every modern streetwear brand, from Vetements to Hood by Air.  I won’t wear Rick Owens’ clothes any time soon, but I’ve come to appreciate how he has shifted the approach of fashion in terms of silhouette and sexuality.