Rick Owens Fall 2009

There is so much beauty here that I barely know where to begin… although I guess the stunning color palette is as good a place to start as any. The opening barrage of heavy black looks progress to ascend into pale blue-ish grey pieces, leading the collection into an all-out galactic, evil, ice princess assault. The fact that muted neutrals are used as accentual colors here is also something worth mentioning. It is all so lovely, a true visual pleasure. Despite the lack of dark colors, his pieces still contain a lot of depth and richness.

Aside from the colors, I am absolutely dying over the cuts. Sure, there are a handful or two of cuts we have seen from Rick before… but instead of simply recycling the designs, he definitely tweaks and refines the outerwear, season by season. One of the things I’m actually the most enamored about here is how he has really got everything so perfect this time around. There are some obvious experiments but mostly everything just looks so refined and well polished – but still maintains the hard edge we know and love his work for. Just beautiful, really.

Owens has such an uncanny ability to rework the standard female silhouette – and I truly don’t think he is recognized enough for this talent. The way he deconstructs, and then completely rebuilds the silhouette and totally distorts the proportions… frankly, it’s nothing short of phenomenal. It’s like the materialistic equivalent of what the early cubists did for modern art and it truly surprises me this genius aspect of his design is often overlooked. It’s such a feat, really.

I often see people say Rick Owens is too same-y and it really gets me. I mean… I wonder if these people really believe this or if they’re just talking out of their asses sometime. There is a HUGE difference between being same-y and being a visionary who has the ability to carry over their distinct design aesthetic from season to season, meanwhile almost completely reworking and evolving the theme of each collection. He is truly the undisputed messiah of this… being able to be a complete chameleon but also maintain his sense of self. I think people mistake being same-y for the fact that his aesthetic is 100% irrefutable, no matter how much he shapes and shifts it.