PFW SS22: Rick Owens presents apocalyptic ready-to-wear collection in Paris

Returning to France after a multitude of shows on the coast of Northern Italy, Rick Owens brought gothic glamour to the runway of Paris Fashion Week for his new spring/summer 2022 womenswear collection.

Set in the Palais de Tokyo, Owens’ wife and business partner, Michèle Lamy, led the procession in thigh-high platformed sandal boots, a transparent train and a structural leather skirt. Models that followed walked through a myriad of jasmine leaves transported from the designer’s Venetian home as a tribute to covid shows of the past.

Much of the pieces in the collection are based around exaggerated, structural elements constructed with crisp tailoring, sharp shoulders and lacquered stretch denim forming abstract skirts. Geometric, flesh-exposing cutouts contrast that of flowing robes and cloaks created from “feather encrusted tulle”. Bubble jackets with hard shoulders and ruched chiffon bodies further emphasise the architectural details Owens explores, playing with his personal signatures in his typically dark fashion spirit.

“There is brisk logic to the pursuit of beauty, above all else, that has always appealed to me and the endless honing and refining of creative signatures in those that I have always admired,” Owens wrote in notes on the show. “Focusing on that seemed like the right move.”

Elements of the collection were developed as part of the designer’s ongoing Drkshdw capsule, made in Kurashiki in Japan. A custom woven orange selvedge denim, manufactured by Yamaashi Orimono using vintage Sakamoto shuttle looms, joins the avant-garde capsule, known for its regularly released sneaker designs.

Denim not included in the Japan capsule were certified by the Global Organic Textile Standard, utilising organic cotton produced in a local Italian mill.

In occasional splashes of colour, multicoloured mohair spiderweb knits provide dynamic layers, constructed in ways that appear to drip from the body. Unclear what the piece is meant to be for, whether a dress or a sweater, the knits look deconstructed and complete with options to remove arms and hoods as the wearer pleases.

Accessories also played an important part in the line, with choker necklaces and other pieces originating from Owens’ ongoing jewellery collection produced in collaboration with the Maison, Goossens. Additionally, bags were also produced in a continuation of the house’s work with indigenous communities in Brazil, produced using Pirarucu dragon scale leather, a food byproduct.