Last week I had the chance of interviewing one half of Italian design duo a.Ve (Ante Vesperum Edicta). Elena Pignata explained me in that occasion that, while her colleague Valentina Vizio is fascinated by Japanese designers such as Yohji Yamamoto and Comme des Garçons, she admires Ann Demeulemeester and Rick Owens. I was looking this morning at some pictures from yesterday’s Owens’ catwalk and I found myself sharing Elena’s admiration for the American designer. The main reason was that I couldn’t stop thinking about one of my favourite fashion references, Medea.
No, don’t worry, Owens’ Spring/Summer 09 collection didn’t have anything to do with sumptuous film or theatre costumes, but it had a sort of starkly and dark hieratic touch. The base colours for the collection were black and dusty grey and all the models wore on their heads what looked like a sort of nun’s veil.
Unfortunately the veil didn’t do justice to many models (I often think that as beautiful as they can look, some models have difficulties in carrying off the hat/headgear/headdress look…), but seeing them all in their veils walking together among the dry ice, gave the impression they were all members of a choir in a Greek tragedy. This impression was also reinforced by the fabric wraps that, crawling up to the models’ knees or bundled up around the ankles, hid the sandal-clad feet and gave a sort of barbaric feeling to the catwalk show.
Owen’s neo-minimalism emerged throughout his collection: there were tops with cut-outs or nude panels and all-in-ones with soft and relaxed silhouettes, though the most interesting outfits were skirts with knots, twists and fabric inserts. The knotted jackets and coats also proved a winning idea: they looked wearable though chic pieces, the sort of garments that will resist the test of time.
If there was a new adaptation of the Medea tragedy for the big screen, I would enlist Owens as costume designer, I’m sure his cold post-minimalism would give new power to the witch of Colchis. I would also love to see Rick Owens’ S/S 09 outfits worn with Arnaldo Pomodoro’s sphere and disk-like jewellery. I’m sure the juxtaposition of Owens’ starkness to Pomodoro’s sculptural pieces would create an astonishingly beautiful effect.
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