Rick Owens: Spring 2014

Rick Owens after showing a collection

Alas, fashion week (or, more accurately, month) has come and gone, and I was disappointed to find few shows of especial note. Will Zuhair Murad, with his albeit beautiful, romantic gowns, ever take a risk? Why all those Frankendresses by Prada?

In light of the meagre pickings this season, I turn to Rick Owens, who, if nothing else, managed to cause a stir at his show.

Diversity or Adversity?

Designer Rick Owens surprised everyone at Paris fashion week when the runway lit up to reveal a group of muscular, broad, (and mostly) black step dancers. His show, called Vicious, featured four university student step groups: the Soul Steps and Momentum from New York and the Washington Divas and Zetas from the D.C. area (Refinery29). Marching to a percussion-heavy beat, the ladies synchronically clapped and marched, wearing snarling faces as well as Owen’s latest designs throughout the energetic performance. (Watch the video here.)

The steppers wore minimal utilitarian designs

 The problem? As Shauntele, one of the steppers admitted, “There has been concern from some that our performance perpetuated stereotypes of the 'angry black woman' due to the use of the grit face.” (Grit refers the intense, angry expressions black step teams wear to intimidate competition and show strength in spite of atrocities suffered.) Critics contend that, when taken out of the context of step competition, the meaning of grit is lost; the performers’ scowls are too easily interpreted as “animalistic,” making black women seem more “other” than ever.

Steppers put on the "grit" face

Amanda Williams, columnist for The Grio, supports this view when she writes, “Beauty, whether we believe it is socially salient, was not portrayed by the models in Owens’ show.” Instead of celebrating diversity and inclusivity, Owens used seemingly mad black women as “props,” an act of cultural appropriation on par with Miley Cyrus’s twerking in her 2013 VMA performance. 

Do you think Owens’s attempt to include black women into mainstream fashion was a failure? Or did he, as Shauntele believes, successfully challenge standards of beauty (i.e., thin, white, classically beautiful females) that have dominated the fashion industry to the “detriment of untold numbers of women” (Refinery29)?

My two cents: although Owens’s presentation of his newest collection was not unproblematic, he has inspired a dialogue about race and gender issues on the runway—a hard task to achieve. It’s enough for me to give the historically rebellious designer a nod of approval.

About Rick Owens

Rick Owens is an American expatriate to Paris. He learned how to make clothes by taking courses at Otis/Parson’s, though he dropped out partway through school to make sportswear and designer knock-offs in the L.A. area. (You can still detect the sportswear influence in his spring 2014 collection, which is streamlined, functional, and minimal.)

Revillon Fur Co. ad from 1926

In 1994, Owens began a label of his own, eventually landing in Barney’s and winning the Perry Ellis Award forEmerging Talent for his efforts. After moving to Paris, he worked as artistic director at Revillon, a luxury furrier.

Later, in 2008, Owens opened his first boutique store in Manhattan, which showcased the work we know him for today: “savagely sophisticated rock couture” (Style.com). His palette is mostly black, his best-known medium is leather, and he doesn’t shy away from a little exposed hardware:

Owens' asymmetrical dresses; long, clingy T-shirts; and embellished outerwear have been seen on hard/soft types like Courtney Love and Madonna, and the designer's fan club buys up his clothes with a cultlike alacrity. (Style.com) 

Rihanna 

Russell Brand

Ad for Owens' shop in London, England

Editorial in i-D Magazine featuring the designer peeing into his own mouth(!)

Spring 2011

Spring 2011

Boxy high-collar jacket and sheer-neck back-zip dress

Dress by Owens

Owens is just as well known for his men's wear

Asymetrical-zip blistered leather jacket

Comme des Garçons

To me, fashion falls into one of two categories. It can be instantly appealing and you would like to wear it; or it is something you wouldn't necessarily wear but it is driving fashion forward. --Grace Coddington in Grace: A Memoir (327)

Comme des Garçons is unlike most other high-end fashion labels, with clothes more akin to stylized sculpture than fashion. The brand's aesthetic definitely falls into Grace's second category of fashion, where you wouldn't necessarily wear the clothes, but they nonetheless drive fashion forward.

Rei Kawakubo

Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo's clothes are based on concepts, not utility. Since its founding in 1969, Comme des Garçons has sought to represent the woman "who is not swayed by what her husband thinks" (Kawakubo quoted in Voguepedia).  Her early pieces eschew symmetry and look destroyed or deconstructed--imagine three-armed jackets and face-shielding turtlenecks (Nymag.com).  

Fashion buffs often cite Kawakubo's spring 1997 Paris show as classic Comme des Garçons. The show, infamously known as the "lump and bumps" or "tumours" collection, caused a furor in the fashion community when she sent models down the runway wearing outrageously bulgy outfits. 

The "tumours" collection

Comme des Garçons' daring is also demonstrated in the spring 2000 collection, where she showed garments that looked like the paper patterns of clothes rather than the actual cloth clothes themselves. In everything Kawakubo does, she challenges consumers and, by extension, consumerist culture.

Paper doll clothes, anyone?

Even the first Comme des Garçons fragrance, Odeur 53, isn't obviously saleable. Launched in 1998, this "anti-perfume" is a unisex fragrance with 53 different notes, such as nail polish and burnt rubber (Voguepedia). 

Odeur 53 fragrance

Kawakubo's stores aren't inviting either. In 2004, for example, Comme des Garçons began to roll out a series of guerrilla pop-up shops in offbeat locations away from traditional fashion capitals. The interior of the shop in Basil, Switzerland, is just racks of clothes set in an old factory with cement flooring and nothing else, not even a chair to sit on (see below).



Because Comme des Garçons is irreverent, too, the label doesn't hesitate to mix "high" and "low" fashion. Kawakubo was invited and accepted the task to produce a guest collection for H&M in 2008. “What’s interesting about collaborations," she says, "is the possibility for one plus one to equal three." Selling to the middle- to low-income bracket is not a dilution of the brand: it's a creative opportunity.

For H&M

My favourite Kawakubo show, in fact, is the one where she created beautiful, intellectually provocative clothes out of recycled fabrics, a challenge to high/low as well as old/new.

Clothes made out of recycled fabrics.

Although, as some observers contend, Kawakubo's designs have become less rebellious over the years due to her use of so-called traditional patterns and materials, such as gold- and silver-flecked tweed and floral motifs, her work still manages to conflate fashion and art.

Whatever the final verdict on Kawakubo's later work, Voguepedia authors say Comme des Garçons' influence on the history of fashion is equal to that of Balenciaga or Chanel. The ideas behind her work transform fashion into an irony-laden post-modern art form; Kawakubo challenges the idea of wearable, consumable fashion yet owns a $180 million business. She's the Salvador Dalí of clothes designers.

For Vogue, September 2007

Fall 2009 collection

An assemblage of past Comme des Garçons shows

Things I Love: July 2013

I have something to confess, of which I'm deeply ashamed: I'm a "closet" bag lady. It all started innocuously enough. A click here, a click there. Before I knew it, though, I was hooked--bad.

Little Black Bag is partly to blame. Not only does it offer up to 70 percent off designer makeup, sunglasses, and jewelry, but it also offers high discounts on brand name bags (e.g.,  Vince Camuto, Betsey Johnson, Kensie). 

But there's a twist on how you get the goods. First, you sign up for free and complete a personal style questionnaire. Then you shop for an item of your choosing, and based on your preferences, the site's stylists pick one to three other items for you. Before you buy, you swap the items with other customers on the site--think Pokémon trading cards--until you're satisfied with what's in your "little black bag." The last step, of course, is purchasing your loot and getting it shipped. Voilà!

And if you're a little short on cash (like me), you can still easily get your bag "fix" by browsing Bag Snob and PurseBlog. 

Bag Snob, founded by entrepreneurs Tina Craig and Kelly Cook, is a selective editorial on bags. You can read about bag designers in the Snob Files, find out about the best bags to have recently come down the runway, and get a heads up on big sales (Hérmes discounts, anyone?). 

PurseBlog is similar to Bag Snob insofar as you get the lowdown on the most au courant bags. However, the site also features monthly giveaways, exclusive designer interviews, and an online community for bag-a-holics called the Purse Forum.

Let's say you're not well versed in bag-ology, that you're a new "user": you just need to click on BagBible to find out more, especially the article on Types of Bags. You don't want to confuse a baguette bag with a satchel, do you? Bag ladies know how to identify the "good stuff."

Now that I've let you all know about my bag struggles, let me indulge in one last "trip" before I kick the addiction for good . . .

Barbara Bui

Dior 

Jil Sander, $590

Sylvia Toledano, $2,100

Dolce & Gabbana, $3,040 

Prada

Lena Erziak, approx. $735

Valextra, $4,860

Givenchy, $3,125

Stefano, approx. $260

There. I've quit. (I think . . . )

Andrej Pejic

Marc Jacobs, Carine Roitfeld, John Galliano, Raf Simons, Jean Paul Gaultier, Vogue, Numero, Elle, W—every aspiring female model dreams of working with such high-profile designers and magazines. Enter Andrej Pejic, who’s done all that and more.

And Pejic is transgendered.

Pejic for Dossier Journal

S/he’s often described as an “anti-establishment” figure among fashion folk. Perhaps that’s because Pejic is the first male-to-female model to ever walk a couture show. Or perhaps it’s because Pejic famously said, “I’m just a silly Caucasian girl who likes to play with samurai swords.” 

Pejic walking the SS 2011 J.P.G show

"I would like to live in a world where your gender, nationality, sexual orientation, and, above all, financial
status didn't affect the opportunities you are given in life, the way you're treated by others, and your overall freedom."   —Andrej Pejic, quoted in OUT

Born in war-torn Bosnia, Pejic and family immigrated to Melbourne, Australia, in the 1990s. The six-foot-tall model was eventually discovered, of all places, manning the cash at McDonald’s (pun intended). By June 2010, during the Paris men’s shows, people started taking notice of Pejic, asking, “Who’s that blonde girl?” (WWD).

In January the next year, the model walked for Jean Paul Gaultier in his men's show and became the designer’s muse—an unparalleled honour in the fashion industry. Later in 2011, OUT named Pejic as one of the most compelling people of the year.

Karolina Kurkova and Andrej Pejic for J.P.G.

Pejic (right) for Numéro

Pejic for Dazed & Confused

Now the model’s sculptured, androgynous face can be seen all over the world. So, I put the question out there: Is the fashion industry forever changed by gender-benders like Pejic, or is androgyny simply another fad? Judging by the newfound celebrity of Bryan Boy and Saskia de Brauw, the Pejics of the world just might have a fashion future.

Check out Pejic in David Bowie's music video, "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)."