Rick Owens AW13

In recent seasons, Rick Owens has come into his own, placing what feels like diametrically opposing themes into his own set-in-stone, well-established context. Mid-century couture. Papal grandeur. Silver screen Hollywood.  Except when rendered in his fifty shades of black, white, and everything in between, it becomes something rigorously attuned to the Rick Owens tribe, who attend the show as though it was a religious experience. The appeal has also fortunately grown beyond that crowd. We were confronted by pure beauty today that was undeniable and down to Owens' own self-confessed pleasure in beauty on an aesthetic level. "I've been on an aestheticist roll. I've been doing these Art Nouveau waves, Klimt-esque robes, Klimt hair. I love the complete surrender to beauty. It was fun translating all that to my own language. How would I do this, and how would I make this mine?"

Luigi Murenu's dramatically wind-swept, puffed up hair set the tone as the models emerged from a visible wind and fog machine. What was instantly apparent was that everything looked light, and for want of a better word, effortless.  That was evident in the shearling collared dresses, the duffles and kimono-sleeved robes, anchored by a knotting and stitched-up motif, inspired by Japanese basket weaving (not, as Owens pointed out, Araki-esque bondage, something which he doesn't approve of). Owens can tick off aestheticism with a big fat marker pen, then. Where to next, we wonder?

www.rickowens.eu

Hair: Luigi Murenu

Makeup: Lucia Pieroni

Models pictured: Irene Hiemstra-@IRENE_X, Caitlin Holleran-@CaitlinHolleran, Maja Salamon-@majasalamon, Steffie Soede-@stefffix, Ilona Swagemakers-@iloona01