Rick Owens Fall-Winter 20 "Performa"

“Performa” takes its name and inspiration from the performance art biennial created by Roselee Goldberg in 2004, which encouraged Rick Owens to reflect upon the way he performs.
From reading the show notes, Owens describes how he “had always regarded personal behaviour, social and moral, as something to quietly but diligently work on improving. But at 58, I find myself, for better or worse, performing.”

As a result, there is a heavy dose of theatre in this collection - exaggerated shoulders and long, extended arms. There are garish snakeskins patterns, leopard printed satins and bleached Seawolf patchwork, but at its core, the collection is a lot more muted in grey cashmere's in multiple weights draped and wrapped elegantly around the body. Owens talked about “graphics of exposed flesh” carved by his cut-out cashmere layers, and alongside those were the graphics of silhouette.

The provocative opening look – a taupe one-piece folding over at the chest and exposing one whole leg – modelled after one made by Kansai Yamamoto for David Bowie in 1973. Yamamoto’s design used a vivid pattern drawn from yakuza tattoos and kimonos, whereas Owens opted for a grey colour palette and a felt like cashmere fabric which he used to create a blankety finish.

Discover pieces from the FW20 "Performa" collection here