March 1, 2019 |
It was never going to be a cupcakes and candy kind of show. Rick Owens set out his vision, make-up designed by the cult body modification artist Salvia and inspiration taken from an architect of seventies glam rock, Larry LeGaspi, who designed costumes for KISS. The idea: Glamour. As a legitimate response to the awful state of the world. After several heavy collections, he was in the mood to change things up. And what dark delights he presented us with.
It’s a strong season for tailoring and Owens focused on bold architectural pieces, putting rounded, exaggerated shoulders on jackets and coats. The strength of that silhouette contrasted with the softness of draped and swagged dresses which swathed the body and were worn with clunky platform boots (a KISS nod). The show ended with a series of slender gowns, cut on the bias. They played to red carpet convention, apart from the models’s strange facial prosthetics and alien-like appearance. This is Rick Owens, not Brandon Maxwell. In Owen’s world, strange is beautiful and glamour comes with a frisson.
Photographs by Jason-Lloyd Evans.
