Rick Owens Menswear A/W12

When was the last time you saw a double-breasted jacket on a Rick Owens catwalk? It has literally never happened... until yesterday morning. This was Owens pushing things forward, looking at new shapes and forms. He did formal-wear a few seasons back, but for A/W12 - with one button DB jackets and high-waisted wool trousers - there was truly a new and exciting aesthetic presented. But in terms of colour, Owens stayed true to his faithful palette; black, white, grey and beige dominated in his Bercy venue.

The DB idea continued across jackets and coats, many of which came out in satin and layered over shirts with oversized and flowing collars. Cropped jackets boasted an almost architectural panelling and piping structure, offering the only graphic solution to a potential A/W wardrobe dilemma. Rick Owens' good old friend leather was a constant companion... oversized puffas, coats and gilets prevailed as his outerwear garments, while the high-waisted trouser look was only ever challenged a few times by the classic Rick Owens floor-length apron-over-trouser idea.

Rick Owens: Was it loud enough?
Dazed Digital: Yeah but I've been at your shows with louder volume - you could have gone up a notch...
Rick Owens: That's what I thought! The first mix we did was such an assault, it was chaotic and pan-sonic but it was so mathematically hard to mix that we ended up using this, which was kinda metronome.

DD: It worked really well with the collection anyway. What was your initial idea for the clothes?
Rick Owens: Fred Astaire. The high-waisted trousers and the kinda 30s grace that we had.

DD: The trouser shape was new to you!
Rick Owens: Yeah, I like volume around the crotch, I'm kinda doing the opposite to sex in a way. I've seen too many tight trousers. And I like how the gangs around L.A. wear stuff that completely refutes sexuality, they go for something more austere, it's about honour and not sex. I like that!

DD: The double-breasted jackets... it's not often you do that kind of jackets!
Rick Owens: I tried with more buttons but it turned out too traditional, but I like that kind of rigour, formality and protective feeling from them. But the buttons came because it turned it out in to a whole different story...