Rick Owens is one of the greatest interpreters of fashion of our time—a designer who, almost literally, throws the reality of his creations in your face. An absolute truth that tests you, challenges you, questions you. Rick Owens is not for everyone, but for this very reason each of us would like, secretly, to be "worthy" of wearing those clothes as he conceived them.
Rick Owens and the Apocalypse in the SS 2021 Season
Rick Owens is one of the greatest interpreters of fashion of our time—a designer who, almost literally, throws the reality of his creations in your face. An absolute truth that tests you, challenges you, questions you. Rick Owens is not for everyone, but for this very reason each of us would like, secretly, to be "worthy" of wearing those clothes as he conceived them.
No pomp, therefore, but a bare and orderly architectural landscape sets the stage for the presentation of the new S/S2021 women's collection: in the heart of the Venetian Lido, a deserted square hosts a post-apocalyptic script, made of smoke and clothes that seem to have come out of the photographs of the films of George Milner , director and screenwriter of the Mad Max series. There is also a representation of Phlegethon ("Phlegethon"), the river of boiling blood in which the "violent towards others" are immersed, from Canto XII of the Divine Comedy. Through this harsh metaphor, certainly influenced by the pandemic, Owens tells of the discomfort and need that darkens the contemporary:
"Not the center of hell but the road to it. In short, where we are today."
A solitary journey takes place, made of minimal and extreme clothes that recall the clothes of warriors and Amazons: aware of their destiny and the unequal battle they will have to face. While smoke and wind lash the Piazza dell’ex Casinò di Venezia, the almost post-atomic building in the background preludes a minimal but high-impact fashion show—both for the pride of the clothes and for the awareness that they are not for everyone. Yes, Owens shows his cards like a prophet would. Like a Messiah he indicates the path to salvation, he entertains us with the wonder of his creations, implying that they will be closed to many. He announces that we are at the end of exploration, we are at the end of discovery, and it is he who sanctions it. Every road has been explored and beaten. (See Our Rick Owens Collection)
