Making a Difference Through Defiance
Review of Rick Owens Fall 2026 Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
Rick Owens work has often spoken to the times we are living through, whether it was the spring 2025 mega-watt production titled Hollywood (ironic now that very industry is in crisis) to spring 2024’s Lido that proposed a ‘stark elegance’ that matched the designers mood at the time when he said he considered ‘joy a moral obligation.’
Now with his collection titled Tower, that continues his exploration from his menswear show, the designer is challenging us all to stand tall and defiant at a pivotal moment in time. To be towers of love and light.
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Defiant Beauty, Towers of Love, Adaptable Armour
In the last few seasons there has been an autobiographical arch to Rick Owens work. For fall 2026 the designer, who spoke to The Impression backstage, revealed his downtime indulgence of reading autobiographies, and one such life that captured his imagination was that of the actor Marlene Dietrich.
Explaining that during World War II Dietrich, herself a German-American, defied the rise of the Nazis to entertain US and Allied troops during two world tours. This the designer thought was ‘fantastic’ and that it was a keen example of stepping up to be counted and playing her part to resist in the best way that she saw fit. “During wartime she pivoted and devoted herself to moral service, to duty and service, and she committed herself completely to that, and she went to the front lines, and that is stepping up.”
In breaking down his admiration, he outlined the ‘dignified sequence’ of the key stages of her life in todays notes. From phase one as a ‘glittering sexual provocateur’ to her sense of duty and service during the war, to a final phase as a cabaret act who wore a sheer dress that kept her modesty intact through the donning of a “huge white cloud of a coat.” All of which influenced a collection that he said felt “extremely autobiographical” as those codes that once governed Dietrich’s life, also govern his own.
In looking to Dietrich and her moral compass during a time on conflict, Owens felt a resonance with today. When many who are also in the spotlight have found themselves unable to ‘step up’ or speak out about global atrocities being committed in their name for fear of swift retribution. But as the designer explained “I was thinking of behaviour during wartime, and of threat and how people respond to it, is what defines their character after the war.” Not one to sit and wait the designer has staged quasi-protests with his work and the unrelenting way that it challenges during this contemporary time of war in Europe and the Middle East that is an inescapable part of our daily reality.
His fall collection titled Tower, refers back to his men’s show in that the word ‘Tower’ stands for “Temple of love, tower of light” and is his ‘prayer for love and hope.’ And as a visual narrative that was expressed in the ‘towering’ sheath dresses that opened the show, made from Kevlar that is used in body armour, it was as if the designer was calling us to become literal towers. This call-to-action continued in the adaptable outer with extendable collars that gave the models a literal appearance of towers through their elongated architectural forms.
The silhouettes in today’s collection felt more protective than usual with less focus on the sheer draping seen in previous seasons. Each look was intended to provide strength or protection in their heavier layers twisted around the body, heavy cowhide leather rendered in jackets and separates, and velvet jersey that was looped and gathered at the hem to create a cocooning form. Even the hair and make-up felt battle ready and was part of a collaboration with Berlin-based digital creator @figa.link (real name Bernardo Martins) whose work testing the extremes of beauty standards was the reactive protest Owens sought out to underline his fall 2026 collection.
Towards the close of the show a set of candy-coloured coats made from long goat hair brought the collection full circle back to Dietrich. As this was Owens homage to the swansdown coat (which was a coat made from actual swan skins and gave it “that extra little bit of ickiness” the designer said) that she wore in her final phase as a cabaret act. In mimicking that final chapter in his fall outing these coats also came to represent towers, in brutalist form.
THE QUOTE
I was thinking of behaviour during wartime, and how people respond to threat is what defines their character after the war.
Rick Owens, Creative Director, Rick Owens
THE WRAP UP
Rick Owens once again proved that his runway is a place for resistance. Titled Tower, the collection drew its inspiration from the defiant life of Marlene Dietrich – in particular her wartime decision to entertain Allied troops during World War II as an act of moral resistance.
Owens translated that narrative of courage into a wardrobe built for protection and purpose: towering Kevlar sheath dresses and exaggerated collars on outerwear that stretched silhouettes skyward to become their own architectural forms evoked how clothes can still be a vehicle for defiance.
