Rick Owens’ Sculpted Spring
Garments and performance alike had a sculptural quality at the Rick Owens Spring/Summer’16 show. First, the clothes: Crafted of tactile leathers and silks, the hemlines and shoulders of dresses stood erect as the models walked purposefully down the catwalk. Heavy black boots and gladiator sandals anchored the looks, keeping the models firmly planted with each heavy step. And then there were the women strapped onto the fronts and backs of several models: They, too, were rigid and sculptural, holding their arms in uncanny poses or waving them abstractly. It might have been heavy-handed if each and every model had a tethered companion, but in small doses it underlined the strong, unapproachable aesthetic already at work.
