Rick Owens showed a stunning spring collection on Thursday at Paris Fashion Week. The show, which garnered instantaneous, massive praise, was inspired by the designer's Mexican heritage. Earlier this year, Owens and his (iconic) partner Michéle Lamy made their first trip to the country, and you could see the design influence in architectural headpieces recalled the structures at Teotihuacán. The clothes are worth a good deal of discussion. But! There were also bubbles!
Owens' models walked in a circle around a steaming pool. And as they strutted about, bubbles floated through the air. Women pulled large nets through the pool, lifting them up in the air to create a dreamscape of bubbles. The upcoming The Little Mermaid remake could never.
In a new interview with The Guardian, Owens explained his source of inspiration. "I've never really explored my Mexican heritage, even though my mother was from there," he said. "But I was thinking about using it for my next clothing collection."
The designer added that he was interested in the "hot colours that Luis Barragán used, and Aztec architecture, and the photographs that Josef and Anni Albers took there in the 1930s, which I saw at the Guggenheim in Venice last year. Loud colours. And sequins."
It's an interesting jumping off point for a man known for creating dark, brutalist designs in both his clothing and furniture collections. The Spring 2020 show featured unexpected colors for Owens: Pink, yellow, burnt orange, sequined gold. He even added Christian Louboutin-style red soles to the bottoms of enormous, alien-like platform boots.
"I want to be the Donald Judd of fashion," Owens told The Guardian. But he's already Rick Owens, certified genius. Why would he want to be anyone else?
Photo via Imaxtree