Rick Owens is quickly becoming the purveyor of you-had-to-be-there shows. Heck, even the showstopper Cher herself just had to be there today and in that, she delayed proceedings a tad but are we really going to begrudge CHER? No, friends, the stupendous fur hat she showed up in was absolutely worth the wait. By the way, is this Paris Fashion Week Cher’s latest Farewell/Goodbye/Retiring tour or comeback? Answers below, thanks.
While waiting a thunderous noise made everyone look up, half-expecting to see torrential rain fall from the roof of the POPB – not as ridiculous as it sounds considering that last season we had a rather soapy bath do the same. Whether that noise was purposeful or not, it was fitting as minutes later (once Cher was ruling the FROW) a gust of wind blew out white smoke that filled the backdrop. The elements are here and who better than Owens to channel them? Was the designer making a wider point about the ferocious weather we are experiencing lately? To say that the models’ hair was windswept does not even come close to covering it. They looked as if they’d just emerged from a wind tunnel but Owens’ girls are fierce, they can handle that. There was so much movement in this show and such fluidity in the lines of the clothes that made it stand out in a season full of sculptured pieces that stand away from the body.
The proposition on offer was simple: either long and lean or short and boxy. The show opened with the first, strictly black or white layers: a white shirt over a black skirt over striped leggings and knee-high stiletto boots with an enveloping fur coat and a scarf wrapped tightly around the neck for good measure. Some left long layers floating behind them as a long scarf or a train of a tunic. One sleeveless coat had a shearling capelet as if slashed open at the front to reveal the contrasting fur. The duchesse satin sleeves got wider and looser like they’d deflated while battling the weather. The shorter looks were instantly appealing – you wanted to throw any of the suede and shearling jackets on there and then. They stopped low on the body and were even more desirable when they came with sharp bone toggles, a sandy one was as luxurious and cool as we’ve come to expect from Rick Owens, or traditional Japanese lacing detailing working its way through them – white lacing on black was particularly sharp. The Angeleno showed his softer, more romantic side too with tiny cotton bobble trim running alongside the hemlines of white cotton tunics and fuzzy white fur appearing on a cropped black knit worn over a floaty black dress. With Wagner's soaring music reaching its crescendo we were left to face a cold and grey Paris but at least Cher was ready for it in her big hat.
