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Getting hit with the optimism stick isn’t exactly what you’d expect going into a Rick Owens show, which is traditionally presented in a completely blacked-out Palais omnisport de Paris Bercy. But SS13’s white lightweight smocks and transparent boxy jackets – backed up by a less severe soundtrack than usual – appeared just so. Warm beiges and dusty shades of grey prevailed against the hits of token all-black looks, and contributed to a sense of optimism not normally associated with Owens. “Um, it could be,” Owens told i-D online backstage. “You know, when you put men in clogs there’s already a sense of humour in it. Fashion is always at its most interesting when it’s very close to ridiculous,” he quipped, referring to the wooden shoes that appeared throughout alongside legwarmers. But it was the cubic and otherwise geometrical prints that epitomised the collection. “It’s my version of camouflage. It’s a motif I’ve used for years, which is based on this concrete wall that I saw in Berlin years ago. It’s kind of a modernist architectural wall, and a utopian ideal that has always stuck with me. I interpret it in fur, in denim, and now in camouflage,” he said. “You know, I take one idea and I hit you over the head with it for as long as I can.” Perhaps, but regardless of how set Owens is in his aesthetic, there’s obviously still room for surprise.
Text: Anders Christian Madsen
Photography: Mitchell Sams
Click here to see our SS13 Menswear coverage in full.
