Rick Owens Proves There is Strength and Solidarity in Numbers
Review of Rick Owens Spring 2025 Men’s Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
THE THEME
Rick Owens spring 2025 show was a production of epic proportions, no wonder it was titled ‘Hollywood’, and there can be no doubt that the designer has made history with todays runway event staged with a cast of ‘models’ that must have run into the hundreds and were actually students and faculty from all the fashion schools in Paris. And with it Owens brought to his Parisian homebase a sense of the dramatic that only an American could pull off. In his version of Hollywood though, he is referencing the epic old Hollywood of blockbuster fame, as much as the place where he found his people, on the “Boulevard of vice” where he found his “weirdos and freaks” according to today’s show notes. Todays runway also featured some of those people in the form of Jakob Jakobsson who opened for Owens’ second-ever show 22 years ago and a grand Dame of the trans community Allanah Star.
Always seeking to present a way for everyone to express their individuality, today was a bold expression for the way in which Owens felt that “sometimes expressing our unity and reliance on each other is a good thing to remember too” as was told in todays notes. His was also one of the few to address the need for unity – and in doing so reminding us all of our strength in numbers – as designers across the June season have chosen to make their political views known via subtle methods, some impactful, while others have been lost in the noise.
At first presenting as a collection with hundreds of individual looks, it became clear that each group was unified by a uniform. Opening with a parade of power-shouldered chiffon caftans and side-split shorts, this was steadily followed by sheer gathered tops with armbands that created an armour-like elongated shoulder with raw-hemmed shorts. The silver silk charmeuse robes are likely to become some of the most sought-after pieces by Owens fanatics, as the notes explained that one of his 25-year strong atelier members – Dafne Balatsos – sourced the last remaining stock from the now closed Oriental Silks on Beverly Boulevard, making these pieces a rare find made of finite resources. The final group of looks – which made the models appear as if modern mummies – was a collaboration with The Swedish School of Textiles graduate Tanja Vidic who impressed with her DIY knits resembling laddered and cobweb-like structures. Throughout the collection there is a concerted sustainable push, as has been Owens way of working for a number of years, yet he is oddly very rarely lauded as a leading sustainable brand. Yet, within the collection were denim that had been produced at an Italian wash house in smaller quantities, so as to reduce water waste and hooded biker jackets in a “milky canvas” utilising only vegetal and natural tannins.
It is already understood that Owens has it in him to be a great costume designer, with many even transposing a number of looks onto characters when the Dune movie was released, seeing his namesake brand as the perfect fit. Now, with the announcement that Zendaya is to star in a remake of Cleopatra is Owens quietly auditioning for the role? or is he hinting that its something he has already secured? As today we had the trailer all sewn up as swathes of Gods, mummies, and servants made their way through the outer courtyard of the Palais de Tokyo, which was only interrupted by a mind-boggling spectacle of a 2024 reimagining of a palanquin – which is the bed that Cleopatra was often carried around on – this time in true Owens-style it was made of industrial pipes and was draped with bodies, led by Ylva Falk, contorting themselves in the spring collection, saying in todays show notes “I always reference the lost Hollywood of pre-code black and white biblical epics, mixing art deco, lurid sin, and redeeming morality”. Its also interesting to note that in no time at all, mere hours from the moment the last model left the runway, an AI-generated mini-movie remake of Cleopatra starring Timothee Chalamet was already making the rounds online.
THE BUZZWORDS
Unity, Production value, ready-to-wear replicas
THE SHOWSTOPPER
Look #14
As unexpected as it was jaw-dropping, only Rick Owens could have pulled of an industrial-style “gymnast bouquet” complete with a flag symbolising unity.
THE DIRECTION
THE QUOTE
Expressing our individuality is great but sometimes expressing our unity and reliance on each other is a good thing to remember too…especially in the face of the peak intolerance we are experiencing in the world right now.’
Rick Owens, Creative Director, Rick Owens
THE WRAP UP
Across the season many are speaking to the need for unity or freedom, so this was a timely display of both. Rick Owens assembled a community of creatives to walk in solidarity in his choice of an ‘undyed’ white tone which was used throughout the collection, with the possibility that it symbolised a rebirth, a clean slate, and in the choice of the imperfect hue, replicating the fact that reality is also never perfect, but imperfection can still be used to convey a powerful message of hope.
