RICK Owens completed his fourth and final show at the Venice Lido with a collection that was equal parts fragile and feverish. With various models grasping portable smoke machines as they walked, enveloping the attire in a plume of pale mist, coupled with the pulsating bass that was slightly incongruous to the serene setting, it’s quite natural to believe that Owens – like many of us – is eagerly awaiting a slice of self-indulgence.
But, equally for many, the hardships of this pandemic has been framed with the opportunity to revaluate our lifestyles, and for Owens, the potential for a post-pandemic period of excess is already outdated.
For this collection, Owens’ usual inky black-clad rangers were draped in more muted, pale hues. The large, ample silhouettes were outlined with sweeping flares; woven cotton jerseys and cropped jackets with spear-edged shoulder pads that reflected the angular points of the trousers. In the same vein, glimpses of black and terracotta orange offset the current of cloudy-white.
Although the collection embraces hedonism in a soft form, the slashed cotton vests, the gorged armholes and ripped off sleeves, exposes the belief that our insatiable appetite for more, is a manner of living that is ultimately fraying at the edges.
To maintain this frustration within the clothes, Owens invited Swampgod – a young creative from Venice – to visit the factory and deconstruct further the already deconstructed pieces, to slice at strips of shredded fabric.
According to Owens, we are now entering a “wrapped period of hedonism” and it appears the designer was combating this notion with delicate, wispy garments that almost hovered over the sandy beach, and whose beauty existed entirely in the present. The collection was a humbling reminder to adopt a gentler pace to life, and perhaps that banal, agonisingly overused expression of less is more, may just have some resonance here.
by Sophia Ford-Palmer