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OWENSWIKI

SS16 CYCLOPS

MEN

CREDITS

  • MAKEUP: VAL GARLAND (STREETERS)
  • HAIR: DUFFY (STREETERS)
  • PROD: LA MODE EN IMAGES
  • MUSIC: EXCLUSIVE MIX OF KAT!E BY CARNAGE (FT. KATIE GOT BANDZ)

NOTES

A MILITARY SILHOUETTE IS A CLASSIC REFERENCE FOR MEN’S CLOTHES. THE EFFECT OF MILITARY UNIFORMS HAS BEEN ANALYZED AND DEVELOPED OVER GENERATIONS TO SUMMARIZE WHAT A MAN WANTS TO LOOK LIKE EFFICIENT, WELL PROPORTIONED, RATIONAL, DIGNIFIED AND HEROIC. BUT THE PARTICULAR U.S. M1965 FIELD JACKET COLLAR AND PLACKET THAT I HAVE BASED THIS COLLECTION ON SUGGESTS A HOST OF OTHER REFERENCES, NOTABLY REBELLION, COUNTERCULTURE AND ANTI-WAR PROTEST A COLLAR FROM THE PAST THAT SUGGESTS HEROISM AND QUESTIONS IT AT THE SAME TIME.

I’VE FETISHIZED THIS JACKET METALLIZING IT, DISTORTING IT, SHREDDING IT, FLARING IT, PAINTING IT BLACK… WORN OVER SHORTS AND SANDALS, IT’S MY VERSION OF AN ETERNAL HIPPIE SPIRIT LOOKING FOR INNER PURITY, OPPOSING CONFLICT, AND CONTRIBUTING TO THE PERPETUATION OF COSMIC LOVE. AND ALL OF THIS BEST EXPRESSED IN BLACK LEATHER.

LEATHER IS ALSO TRANSPARENT HERE IN A PROCESS THAT PRESERVES THE LEATHER BUT STOPS SHORT OF DYEING IT. IT’S THEN WAXED IN A PROCEDURE SIMILAR TO DRUM SKINS. THIS PROCESS IS ALSO APPLIED TO SNAKESKIN AND USED IN T-SHIRTS AND THE SIMPLEST OF SLIM ZIPPERED WINDBREAKERS.

AND FINALLY, I PROPOSE A SERIES OF TURBO-DRAPED AND COLLAGED TOPS IN ROUGH TOILE AND PAINTED CANVAS MAKING IT PRETTY OBVIOUS THAT I’VE BEEN A FAN OF JOHN CHAMBERLAIN’S SCULPTURES AND STEVEN PARRINO’S PAINTINGS ALL MY LIFE ARTISTIC HEROES WHO EMERGED AND EXPERIMENTED IN THE WAKE OF THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN 1960S.

THIS RICK OWENS SPRING SUMMER 2016 MEN’S COLLECTION IS TITLED CYCLOPS A MONSTER WITH A NARROW FOCAL POINT. I CAN SEE THIS IN MYSELF IN MY DETERMINED URGE TO FIND THE STRAIGHTEST LINE FROM POINT A TO POINT B AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. A TRAIT I HAVE ALWAYS ASSUMED IS MOSTLY A MASCULINE ONE. AND I’M CONSTANTLY TRYING TO MAKE SURE THIS AMBITIOUS URGE FOR EFFICIENCY AND CONTROL DOESN’T TEETER OVER INTO AGGRESSION. I SUSPECT A LOT OF OTHER MEN WRESTLE WITH THAT TOO.

WOMEN

CREDITS

  • MAKEUP: SAMMY MOURABIT (JULIAN WATSON AGENCY)
  • HAIR: DUFFY (STREETERS)
  • PROD: LA MODE EN IMAGES
  • MUSIC: THIS LAND BY UNKLE, PERFORMED BY ESKA WITH CONNIE BIDOUZO AND AUDREY GBAGUIDI

NOTES

THIS RICK OWENS SPRING SUMMER 2016 WOMEN’S COLLECTION IS ENTITLED CYCLOPS, A MYTHOLOGICAL CREATURE, FORMIDABLE, WITH FOCUSED VISION. WHO AMONG US WOULDN’T APPRECIATE THAT KIND OF DESCRIPTION? IN THE SPRING MEN’S COLLECTION, WHICH SHARES THE SAME NAME, THAT FOCUSED VISION WAS PROPULSIVE AND AGGRESSIVE. WHEN APPLIED TO WOMEN, I SEE THAT FOCUSED VISION BEING MORE ABOUT NOURISHMENT, SISTERHOOD/MOTHERHOOD AND REGENERATION; WOMEN RAISING WOMEN, WOMEN BECOMING WOMEN AND WOMEN SUPPORTING WOMEN A WORLD OF WOMEN I KNOW LITTLE ABOUT AND CAN ONLY ATTEMPT TO AMUSE IN MY OWN SMALL WAY.

STRAPS CAN BE ABOUT RESTRAINT BUT HERE THEY ARE ALL ABOUT SUPPORT AND CRADLING. STRAPS HERE BECOME LOVING RIBBONS. STURDY SANDALS PROVIDE A STEADY BASE FOR LIGHT-AS-AIR SHIFTS. TUNICS AND BOXERS ARE TOPPED WITH CRISPLY CUTAWAY COATS WITH NARROW, SHARPLY DEFINED SHOULDERS. SLEEVES ON THE COATS ARE RIPPED OFF OR CAN BE REMOVED TO DRIFT BEHIND THE BARE ARM LIKE A CAPE.

AFTER A LONG PERIOD OF ADDRESSING THE PURSUIT OF THE ILLUSION OF CONTROL WITH GEOMETRIC MOTIFS AND CUTS THAT BELONG IN A CONCRETE BRUTALIST UTOPIA, THIS COLLECTION UNABASHEDLY COLLAPSES INTO WALLOWING SENSUALITY WITH SWIRLING AND DRIPPING GLOBS OF WASHED SILK GAZAR AND CLOQUE THAT POINT MORE IN THE DIRECTION OF AN ART NOUVEAU LANDSCAPE. FISTFULS OF SILK ORGANZA AND RAW CANVAS ARE TWISTED AND ABSTRACTEDLY DRAPED INTO SOMETHING AS CLOSE TO FLORAL AS I’LL PROBABLY EVER GET.

ALL THIS ORGANIC LIMPNESS IS COUNTERED WITH THE CLASSIC RIGOR OF SIMPLE FLIGHT JACKETS, HOODED WINDBREAKERS AND SLEEVELESS BIKERS ALL IN VARYING WEIGHTS OF BLACK LEATHER AND A METALLIC FABRIC THAT I CHOSE FOR ITS SEMBLANCE TO SOMETHING JOHN CHAMBERLAIN WOULD HAVE MADE ONE OF HIS CRUMPLED STEEL SCULPTURES OUT OF. LEATHER IS ALSO TRANSPARENT, USING A PROCESS THAT PRESERVES THE LEATHER BUT STOPS SHORT OF DYEING IT. IT’S THEN WAXED IN A PROCEDURE SIMILAR TO DRUM SKINS. THIS PROCESS IS ALSO APPLIED TO SNAKESKIN TO CREATE A WEIRD ORGANZA/HIDE EFFECT.

THE MUSIC FOR THE SHOW IS UNKLE’S ARRANGEMENT OF ‘THIS LAND’, THE THEME FROM THE MOVIE ‘EXODUS1’, A SONG I USE HERE AS A REFLECTION ON THE TIMELESSLY FEMALE WAY OF PROTECTING AND NURTURING A TRIBE, SUNG LIVE BY VOCAL POWERHOUSE ESKA.