When it comes to Rick Owens, footwear styles have always been the most iconic items in the past, from the earliest women’s stiletto heels and over-the-knee suede wedge boots, to the mid-term appearance of the “collectible” Rick Owens Dunk that set a resale record on the well-known archive website Grailed last year, or the ubiquitous Geobasket and Ramones, to the recent transparent calf leather series developed personally by good friend Sruli Recht and the Kiss Boots that Rick himself wears day and night. Each pair of shoes is equivalent to a testament to the growth of the Rick Owens brand. In the FW21 collection, what is unexpected is that everyone will soon welcome the collaboration footwear of Converse x Rick Owens – even though the fashion show has ended for several days, discussions about this controversial footwear online have not stopped.
Or you might be curious, what does Rick Owens actually want to express in this men’s FW21 collection? If you really want to understand, you must explore from the fashion show to the clothing design one by one.
讓 Rick Owens 渡過「黑暗」的場地
Due to the Paris police’s restrictions on audience entry for epidemic prevention measures, Rick Owens, like last season, brought his fashion show directly to the streets. This season, Rick Owens continues to use Venice as the venue for presenting his women’s collection, and for the FW21 men’s collection, he held another “street presentation” – yes, Rick Owens is still listed as one of the presenters for this season’s Paris Fashion Week.
Once again, it is the beautiful Lido beach island near his summer vacation villa, but this time, the women’s collection is showcased at the nearby casino, while the FW21 men’s collection is at the Tempio Votivo temple gates. From the compact backstage dressing and touch-ups to the models strutting down the runway, allowing the “live audience” to fully enjoy and witness everything. Rick Owens shared that due to the outbreak of COVID-19, he spent most of last year locally, living in a highly locked-down Italy. Besides the factory, the surroundings of the vacation villa became the only place to go out. He further explained that the venue for the women’s collection last season, Lido Casino, was the most visited place last summer – the bathroom decor in the vacation villa was entirely inspired by the 1930s rationalist architecture of Lido Casino. On the other hand, the location chosen for this season’s men’s collection, Tempio Votivo temple, is the first building Rick Owens sees every time he returns to Lido beach from elsewhere by boat, making both locations deeply personal choices. “On the morning of the fashion show, I slowly walked from the villa to the venue. I could hear the background music playing from five streets away, and as I walked, I felt power and love; I was moved.”
If you remember, when presenting the menswear collection for the new season, Rick Owens revealed the Spring 2021 menswear collection in an alternative way for the first time, only recording the most original fitting video with muse Tyrone Dylan in the studio. After gaining experience from resuming the womenswear show after the period, Rick Owens once again held a fashion show in the same way, not only making the production more complete – hairstyling, makeup artists, clothing team – but also allowing the always optimistic Rick Owens to feel liberated and regain the joy he used to feel only at the beginning of the season.
以聖經「客西馬尼園」命名系列
Here is a little tip to share: besides paying attention to new designs every season, the most important thing is to pay attention to the name of the collection – such as past names like SPAROWS, DUSTULATOR, VICIOUS, PHLEGETHON, etc. – this season, Rick Owens has named it “GHOSTEMANE.” For those familiar with the Bible, it should be easy to see the connection to The Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed all night before his arrest. Naming it GHOSTEMANE, Rick Owens explains: “This is a restless and tumultuous place before the final reckoning. We are living through one of the most tense periods in history, while waiting for solutions to emerge. Whether catastrophic or rational, it almost feels like a biblical suspense: primal and secular.”
In the Bible, Jesus mentioned in his prayer on the eve of his arrest that he was worried that his decisions or desires were made according to his own needs, thus ignoring the will of God; after the fashion show, Rick Owens mentioned in an interview that one of the central ideas of this season’s design is “inclusivity,” hence the appearance of a large number of everyday clothing designs in the collection, even for Rick himself, the number of styles is almost equal to the total seen in previous years. “In my designs, you can see platform shoes, oversized pants, but at the same time, the presence of jeans, sneakers. This season, I want to create an inclusive atmosphere.”
He has always been a person of temperament, and this season he shares his fashion show on the street again. It stems from his great curiosity about “light” and “darkness”. In the past year, he has been comforting himself that “in darkness, light will always come”, even if the road ahead is dark, the innate goodness of human nature can still reconcile light and darkness. Rick Owens once said that the men’s collection is always about himself, and aggression is a state that he has never been aware of. “As I get older, this (latent aggression) scares me more.” He explained, “As I get older, I have always been learning to improve myself, but in the end, I find that I still become impatient from time to time, and I think that at this age, I should actually become calmer, but I haven’t; up to now, I still get angry at others from time to time, feel dissatisfied, impatient, and so on.” Rick further stated that this latent aggression within him often attracts him, because every time it happens, various emotions make him struggle internally, and he believes that all men will understand this inner struggle.
Arriving at FW21, he wanted to further express this unique aggressive nature of men, which can be fully reflected in the wide-sleeved, strong silhouette designs in the collection. Surprisingly, behind the heavy and strong appearance, there is such a humanized interpretation hidden.
更具侵略性的設計、廓型
Leather and nylon once again play the role of main materials this season, with leather jackets, bomber jackets, off-shoulder puffer coats, oversized shoulder jackets, and more, all being styles that can be found this season.
In addition, as always, the first look by Tyrone Dylan brings another focus design: the extra-long “floor-length” wide coat seen in look 1, look 4, look 5, and look 7, all of which are different styles in different materials and cuts, enhancing the style and grandeur whether paired with ultra-slim or oversized outfits; the thoughtful team also deliberately arranged models with a bull head tattoo on their chest, pairing the coat with a unique low-cut top to instantly highlight both the outfit and the model.
In the past, the most impressive part of Rick Owens fashion shows must be the selection of models – such as Sam Collet, Michael MOON Vision, and the makeup of the models, such as the Fall 2018 menswear show, Fall 2019 womenswear show, etc. Although Rick mentioned that this season has become more complete in production, overall, there is still a certain gap from what he had in mind; uncertain whether or not, this season’s menswear collection follows the previous season’s womenswear collection, presenting itself in full mask style, inevitably reminiscent of the mask design in the Spring 2019 BABEL series. However, everyone remembers not to follow Tyrone Dylan’s example, pulling the mask down and walking around the streets.
This season, Rick Owens finally abandons the eye-catching colors that have appeared in recent seasons, opting for a more solid and muted grayscale palette, with matte black, gray-black, dark purple, grass green, and ink green, with only a hint of light blue visible in two tops.
In terms of design, the irregular cutting, three-dimensional design, and suspension details that were commonly seen in the past can still be seen this season. On the contrary, some low-cut neckline designs that used to appear frequently, even those often worn by Rick himself, have largely disappeared from the collection. This season, Rick Owens has put effort into different cutting and detail designs, such as using zippers to change the forearm cuffs of leather jackets, highlighting the asymmetrical effect of leather jackets and the silhouette of the jacket collar. This technique extends to the knee-high Kiss Boots (first appearing in the menswear collection), greatly enhancing the toughness; in terms of shoulder design, in addition to the oversized horizontal shoulder cutting that echoes the aggressive concept of FW21, more traditional and off-shoulder variations are also included.
What is worth noting is the appearance of distressed designs in multiple styles. Although visually there is a sense of incompleteness and dilapidation, the workmanship is flawless with meticulous stitching. In addition, the varying sizes and layering of different colored holes create an illusion of three-dimensionality on the clothing, causing a sense of unease in the viewer.
爭議性設計 – Converse x Rick Owens TURBODRK Chuck 70
Following VEJA and Champions, Rick Owens brings another controversial design? The most talked-about aspect of the FW21 men’s show is undoubtedly the two collaborative shoes designed by Converse and Rick Owens. Less than half an hour after the show, heated discussions immediately erupted online, with fans quickly unveiling the true face of the Rick Owens x Converse All Star shoes. However, most of the discussions leaned towards disappointment, and Rick Owens also accepted a video interview on the night of the release, sharing in detail about all the discussions.
“I saw online comments saying that this collaboration will cause a huge divide, especially among true worshipers, which will affect them,” Rick Owens expressed confusion about this, stating that he is not sure if there are worshipers following him, and explaining that he has always been labeled as alternative and niche since his debut, but with this label now being mainstreamly attached to Rick Owens, even he is confused about whether he is still niche.”
Returning to the appearance of TURBODRK Chuck 70, in the interview, Rick Owens explained that the idea of “sneakers” has always been in his mind. He mentioned that this is related to his mindset when he was young. Rick Owens rarely shared: “When I was growing up, sneakers were the weirdest and most boring thing that appeared in my life. I always wanted to be strange, provocative, dramatic, and unrestricted, while sneakers, for me, were completely the opposite.” However, all of this changed as he grew older. Rick Owens further explained: “As I got older, I started to develop a habit of working out – I do work out in jeans and Biker Boots (for those familiar with Rick Owens, this should not come as a surprise) – and gradually, I found that even though I started designing sneakers, I naturally exaggerated the original design in execution (such as super high shafts, three-dimensional oversized tongues, horsehair fabrics, etc.), this is the sneaker I envisioned.”
In addition, Rick Owens mentioned that after designing different styles of sneakers over the years, he was still able to attract the attention of Converse, one of the most common sneaker brands in the world, to propose a collaboration, which felt like a form of recognition (of course, allowing Rick to make significant design changes might be another matter). For him, it was difficult to refuse, “This is a true collaboration, I believe that regardless of the comments or reactions, the essence is positive, and we both hope to bring out positive energy”; however, Rick Owens also mentioned at the end that he still cannot predict anything at the moment, and only hopes to see a good response.
The struggle between light and darkness, self and subconscious, finally reveals its hidden meaning with this FW21 fashion show by Rick Owens. Whether avant-garde or mainstream, the proposition of mainstream or non-mainstream is left for you to judge, as Rick himself mentioned in an interview that the end of the men’s show represents the debut of the FW21 women’s collection. Interested friends should not miss the upcoming Rick Owens women’s collection.
資料及圖片來源：Courtesy of JOYCE
