SS23 EDFU

MEN

INFO

• THURSDAY 23 JUNE 2022, 12H30 CET
• PALAIS DE TOKYO, 13 AVENUE DU PRÉSIDENT WILSON, 75116 PARIS
• GALLERY: [ RICKOWENS.EU ]
• VIDEO: [ VIMEO ] // [ YOUTUBE ]

CREDITS

• CASTING: AM CASTING (CLM)
• HAIR: DUFFY (STREETERS)
• MAKEUP: DANIEL SALLSTROM (MA WORLD GROUP)
• PRODUCTION: LA MODE EN IMAGES KNOW HOW PRODUCTIONS (VENICE)
• MUSIC: EXCLUSIVE MIX OF ‘THE CAT’ BY EPROM AND ‘ETERNAL RAIN DESCENDING’ BY SHADES

NOTES

THIS SEASON’S COLLECTION IS NAMED ‘EDFU’ AFTER THE EGYPTIAN TEMPLE.

I HAD RECENTLY RETREATED TO EGYPT WHERE I FOUND GREAT COMFORT IN THE REMOTENESS AND SCALE OF ITS HISTORY. MY PERSONAL CONCERNS AND GLOBAL DISCOMFORTS FELT PETTY IN THE FACE OF THAT KIND OF TIMELESSNESS. LYING DOWN IN THE DIRT WITH THE VALLEY OF KINGS WITHIN VIEW WAS A PERSPECTIVE I LIKED. THE TEMPLES, STARTED BY ONE CIVILIZATION, SEIZED AND ADDED ONTO BY ANOTHER, COMPLETED BY ANOTHER AND THEN UNEARTHED BY YET ANOTHER, WERE REASSURING IN THEIR STOIC PERMANENCE.

WE HAVE ALL BEEN SO DISTURBED BY THE WAR AND CONSTANT ONLINE STONE THROWING, I WANTED TO PROPOSE SOME ORDER AND DISCIPLINE… I USED SOME RIPSTOP NYLONS THAT HAD A BUTTERFLY WING LIGHTNESS WITH GRAPH-LIKE CONSTRUCTIONS THAT LENT SUBTLE SOOTHING GRIDDING ON THE BODY IN DYNEEMA, WHICH IS A PATENTED FIBER CONSIDERED TO BE THE STRONGEST IN THE WORLD.

I REDUCED HARDWARE AND VISIBLE CLOSURES TO KEEP THINGS QUIET. I WANTED SIMPLICITY BUT I STILL WANTED EXAGGERATED SHAPES TO GENTLY TEASE ALL THE RIGHTEOUSNESS AND BIGOTRY THAT CREATE SO MUCH CONFLICT IN THE WORLD.

TAILORING WITH EXTREME SHOULDERS COMES IN CRISP COTTON OR LAYERS OF SILK CHIFFON, SOME IN LOUD AND FOGGY PLAIDS. COATS AND JACKETS ALSO COME IN CHIFFON SUSPENDED FROM RIGID MESH SHEER SHOULDERS. THE TRANSPARENCY CONTINUES WITH JACKETS, SHIRTS, AND JEANS CONSTRUCTED IN APPARITION LEATHER – A COW LEATHER USING GLYCERIN DURING THE TANNING PROCESS AND AIR DRYING WITHOUT BEING DRUMMED WHICH GIVES IT A TRANSPARENT FINISH.

MY BODYSUITS AND SHIRTS HAVE GOTTEN BIGGER THAN EVER AND THE SILHOUETTES ARE EITHER TIGHTLY CINCHED OR LARGE AND RELEASED TO FLOAT AS FAR AWAY FROM THE BODY AS A GARMENT CAN.

SKINTIGHT TOPS COME IN LEATHER OR SHEER VISCOSE, SOME WITH SHARP ARM-EXTENDING SHOULDERS. LAST SEASON’S BANANA KNITS (ABSTRACTED MUTANT MULTIPLE ARMHOLE SWEATERS) ARE REDUCED TO RIB TANK VERSIONS, SOME REDUCED TO JUST THE BINDING THAT FINISHES THE EDGES.

MY EGYPTIAN SOJOURN LED ME TO DEVISING TULLE FLYPROOF ROBES WITH FACE COVERING HOODS WORN OVER SILK CHARMEUSE SHIRTS TWISTING AROUND THE HIPS AND TRAILING ON THE FLOOR, PROVIDING SLASHES OF SLITHERING COLOR.

COLORS ARE DELIBERATELY KITSCH AND LOUD WITH DENIMS LACQUERED IN AN IRIDESCENT SCARAB FINISH WHICH ALSO COATS PIRARUCU, A SKIN I USE OVER AND OVER. FISHED AS A FOOD SOURCE BY INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES IN THE AMAZON FOREST, THE SKINS ARE THEN SOLD AS A WASTE PRODUCT GENERATING INCOME FOR THEM.

I HAVE DEVELOPED A CAPSULE IN COLLABORATION WITH BONOTTO, A 4TH GENERATION TEXTILE MILL FOUNDED IN 1912 JUST BELOW THE PREALPS IN VENETO, WHICH INCIDENTALLY HAS ONE OF THE LARGEST FLUXUS ART COLLECTIONS IN THE WORLD. ALL THE FABRICS WHICH INCLUDE MINIMALLY FINISHED COTTONS AND RAW WOOLS, ARE WOVEN ON THEIR VINTAGE 1950S LOOMS.

I ASKED PARADOXE, A PARISIAN LABEL DOING ARTISANAL WORK WITH DENIM TO COLLAB ON SOME OF OUR DENIM PIECES. THEY PAINSTAKINGLY UNWEAVE USED AND WASHED DENIM AND THEN REAPPLY TO FINAL GARMENTS IN A PROCESS THAT FEELS AS DEVOTIONAL AND MEDITATIVE AS LACEMAKING IN A CLOISTER.

MUSIC IS A SWOOPING, GRATING, UNHINGED EXCLUSIVE MIX BY EPROM AND SHADES (SHADES IS COMPOSED OF EPROM AND ALIX PEREZ) REFLECTING THE UNTETHERED, WONKY CURRENT CLIMATE.

OUTSIDE OF LUXOR, AT THE TEMPLE OF EDFU, OVER THE MAIN ENTRANCE, IS A CARVING OF A WINGED SUN, SYMBOLIZING THE GOD HORUS WHO REPRESENTS THE TRIUMPH OF GOOD OVER EVIL. IN TODAY’S PRESENTATION, A BLAZING SUN CROSSES THE SKY, FALLING TO CRASH TO THE GROUND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. SENSELESS DESTRUCTION ON REPEAT SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME.

WOMEN

INFO

• THURSDAY 29 SEPTEMBER 2022, 17H30 CET
• PALAIS DE TOKYO, 13 AVENUE DU PRÉSIDENT WILSON, 75116 PARIS
• GALLERY: [ RICKOWENS.EU ]
• VIDEO: [ VIMEO ] // [ YOUTUBE ]

CREDITS

• CASTING: AM CASTING (CLM)
• HAIR: DUFFY (STREETERS)
• MAKEUP: MAC COSMETICS AND DANIEL SALLSTROM (MA WORLD GROUP)
• PRODUCTION: LA MODE EN IMAGES
• MUSIC: EXCLUSIVE MIX OF ‘DAZZLE’ BY SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES

NOTES

THIS SEASONS WOMEN’S SPRING COLLECTION, LIKE THE MEN’S SPRING COLLECTION BEFORE IT, IS NAMED ‘EDFU’ AFTER THE EGYPTIAN TEMPLE ON THE WEST BANK OF THE NILE IN EGYPT.

I HAVE BEEN RETREATING TO EGYPT WHERE I FIND GREAT COMFORT IN THE REMOTENESS AND SCALE OF ITS HISTORY. MY PERSONAL CONCERNS AND GLOBAL DISCOMFORTS FEEL SMALL IN THE FACE OF THAT KIND OF TIMELESSNESS. LYING DOWN IN THE DIRT WITH THE VALLEY OF KINGS WITHIN VIEW IS A VERY SOOTHING PERSPECTIVE. THE TEMPLES STARTED BY ONE CIVILIZATION, SEIZED AND ADDED ONTO BY ANOTHER, COMPLETED BY ANOTHER AND THEN UNEARTHED BY YET ANOTHER ARE REASSURING IN THEIR STOIC PERMANENCE.

IN MY YOUTH, EGYPT HAD ALWAYS BEEN A SETTING OF THE MORALITY STORIES I HAD LEARNED IN CATHOLIC SCHOOL… AND IN THE SILENT MOVIE BOOKS IN MY PARENTS BASEMENT FEATURING CECIL B. DEMILLE’S BIBLICAL EPICS AND MOVIES STARRING THEDA BARA, A CREATURE DRESSED AS AN EXOTIC ANCIENT FEMME FATALE WHO WAS ORIGINALLY BORN THEODOSIA GOODMAN IN CINCINNATI, OHIO.

THESE MOVIES BECAME MY AESTHETIC RECIPE– ANCIENT STORIES ABOUT FAITH AND HIGHER PURPOSE MIXED WITH A CAMP AND LURID EXOTICISM SEEN THROUGH A TURN OF THE CENTURY BLACK AND WHITE ART NOUVEAU FILTER. WITH A DOSE OF SELF INVENTION– THEDA’S FIERCE AND POWERFUL AND FRANKLY ARTIFICIAL SELF THAT UNDERSTOOD AND ACKNOWLEDGED THE LIGHT AND DARKNESS OF REAL LIFE.

CHANNELING THEDA BARA POSING FOR GUSTAVE MOREAU, SINUOUS GOWNS IN TRANSLUCENT LEATHER TURN THE WEARER INTO A 700-MILLION-YEAR-OLD JELLYFISH, GRACEFULLY AND LANGUOROUSLY TRAILING SHEER AND SERPENTINE TRAINS. FULL GRAIN COWHIDES COLLECTED AS A WASTE PRODUCT FROM THE FOOD INDUSTRY ARE TANNED USING ONLY ORGANIC MATERIALS AND NATURAL GLYCERIN THAT FILL THE PORES OF THE LEATHER AND GIVE IT ITS SOFTNESS AND TRANSPARENCY. LIKE WEARING GELATINOUS FRUIT ROLL UPS.

CONTINUING A JELLYFISH SILHOUETTE, BELL-SHAPED FRILLED JKTS STOP AT THE WAIST OR AT THE HIPS OR EXPLODE INTO HUGE MANTLES CONSTRUCTED FROM 200 METERS OF RECYCLED TULLE MADE USING ECONYL, AN ITALIAN YARN MADE FROM RECYCLED WASTE MATERIALS COLLECTED FROM OCEANS AND LANDFILLS.

PEARL, OYSTER AND IVORY GOWNS AND JACKETS IN RIPSTOP NYLONS ALSO PROVIDE BUTTERFLY WING LIGHTNESS WITH GRAPH LIKE CONSTRUCTIONS THAT LENDS SUBTLE SOOTHING GRIDDING ON THE BODY IN DYNEEMA, WHICH IS A PATENTED FIBER CONSIDERED TO BE THE STRONGEST IN THE WORLD.

COMO WOVEN SILK CHARMEUSES AND CHIFFONS ARE CUT INTO GOWNS THAT TWIST AROUND THE HIPS AND TRAIL ON THE FLOOR IN SLASHES OF SLITHERING COLOR… GOWNS ALSO COME IN DENIMS THAT ARE DRAPED AND SLASHED IN FADED OR LACQUERED FINISHES.

COLORS ARE EITHER MILKY NON-COLORS OR STRIDENTLY BRIGHT LIKE YELLOW, PINK OR FUCHSIA– JUBILANTLY LOUD COLORS THAT CAN EQUAL THE POWER OF BLACK.

SHOULDERS ARE EITHER WIDE AND ROUNDED ON SHIELD SHAPED BLOUSONS, OR SHARP AND NARROW ON TEES AND FLIGHT JKTS EXTENDING AND NARROWING AND ELONGATING THE ARMS INTO PARENTHESES FRAMING THE BODY… BY EXAGGERATING OR DISTORTING THE BODY IN SUCH A PRONOUNCED WAY, THE MESSAGE IS A VOTE FOR OTHERNESS– A DEPARTURE FROM TASTEFUL AND PERHAPS NARROW AESTHETIC CONVENTIONS AND MAYBE AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO CONSIDER OPEN MINDEDNESS IN OTHER AREAS OUTSIDE OF PERSONAL APPEARANCE AS WELL.

100% OF OUR COTTON JERSEYS ARE ORGANIC GOTS CERTIFIED COTTON.

90% OF OUR COTTON WOVENS ARE ORGANIC CERTIFIED COTTON.

I AM NOT LISTING OUR EFFORTS IN RECYCLING OUT OF VIRTUOUSNESS, WE DEFINITELY HAVE ROOM TO IMPROVE. BUT I LOVE HAVING THE IDEA THAT EFFORTS IN RESPONSIBILITY AND KINDNESS CAN HELP IN SOME SMALL WAY TO BALANCE OUT FORCES OF AGGRESSION AND WAR.

I DON’T SEE MY SOJOURNS TO EGYPT AS ESCAPISM BUT AS A WAY TO REMIND MYSELF TO LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE– AND TO RELIEVEDLY ADMIRE WHAT SURVIVES AFTER COUNTLESS WARS.