RICK OWENS FW16 WOMENS - MASTODON

'SWANS REFLECTING ELEPHANTS' IS THE NAME OF A SALVADOR DALI PAINTING AS WELL AS THE TITLE OF THE LOOPY AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF EDWARD JAMES, HIS BIGGEST PATRON. BUT IT’S ALSO A GREAT FEMINIZED SUBTITLE FOR THIS SEASON’S COLLECTION NAME, MASTODON. FOR THE MEN’S COLLECTION, THE TITLE ‘MASTODON’ REFERRED TO A COLLECTIVE UNEASINESS REGARDING ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES AND HOW GRACEFULLY EMBRACING THE INEVITABLE END OF A CYCLE MIGHT BE THE NATURAL ORDER OF THINGS. THE WOMEN’S COLLECTION CONTINUES THIS THEME OF EVOLUTION WITH SOFT ABSTRACTIONS FOLDING AROUND THE BODY IN A WAY THAT COULD REFLECT how WE MIGHT ONE DAY CALMLY FOLD INTO THE ETHER. LIKE IN A DALI PAINTING. ON AYAHUASCA. THE PRIMORDIAL SPLASHES AND DRIPS THAT WERE MORE AGGRESSIVE IN THE MEN’S COLLECTION HAVE BEEN SWEETENED HERE IN THICK CUPCAKE FROSTING EMBROIDERIES RUNNING DOWN NARROWLY CUT COATS, WHILE OTHERS ARE GRAPHICALLY SLICED WITH FIELDS OF HAPHAZARD DRAPING. THE SILK GAZARS FROM LAST SPRING HAVE BEEN INFUSED WITH WOOL TO CREATE FEATHER-LIGHT MERINO AND SILK MERINGUES. FLOATING FLANNELS AND MOHAIR CLOUDS ARE WRAPPED INTO ROBES AND TUNICS TO BE WORN OVER VELVET BOXERS-CUM-SKIRTS. THIS COLLECTION FETISHIZES A CHALLENGING GREEN I CALL CASTAING AFTER THE LEGENDARY INTERIOR DECORATOR MADELEINE CASTAING. ALTHOUGH IT WAS A TURQUOISE BLUE SHE WAS KNOWN FOR, I LIKED THIS WEIRD GREEN SHE FREQUENTLY ACCENTED IT WITH. AND HER HABIT OF WEARING A WIG HELD ON WITH AN ELASTIC CHIN STRAP HAD A COULDN’T-CARE-LESS-IN-WANING-YEARS ATTITUDE