Rick Owens took over Paris Fashion Week, transitioning from the sleek runway to a minimalist and un-renovated warehouse space.  While Spring/Summer 22 in Venice showcased a lighter, amorous side of Rick’s rule of darkness, yesterday’s exhibited closeted beauty. With “Lights” by The Sisters of Mercy blaring the background, the Fall/Winter 2022 collection showcased a dark reality that was revealed by abrasive, pulsing luminescence and dark staircases from below the stage, allowing the emergence of models into the harsh landscape. 

While always sticking to his most recognizable palette, the runway was interrupted by the vibrancy of pinks, oranges, reds. The mesh and flowing drapery of the last season disappeared, being replaced by leather helmets and almost suffocating puffed puffer vests and layered knitwear. Plastered onto t-shirts and hoodies were the terms ‘subhuman’ and ‘urinal,’ unveiling a sentiment that this collection was rooted in traversing in delirium, one that shifted between the states of being and object. 

With a closer look, what spoke through the grating of the strobe lights and the croons of Andrew Eldritch echoing, “Emerald glistens through the rain, rain, rain and I’m happy here… In the rain” is the highlighting of cruelty beset upon self and society. With the light, as seen in the leather helmets topped by fluorescent tube rods, Rick may show that the subhumans cannot be chained to underneath the earth forever and that it may be time for them to make their own debut. 

See below to watch the full show: