Scene setting: The insta-age has carved two distinct fashion camps: those who want to be transported and those who want to follow. Our avant-garde, poetic saviour is Rick Owens. For summer his shows are hosted in the raw, open air at the Palais de Tokyo. They are epic, theatrical and intense with rigour, passion and sex. At his S/S 2018 show models walked on scaffolding set metres high above the space. Barely visible, they descended onto the industrial catwalk with demonic force. For S/S 2019 Owens’ boys circled potent eruptions of vivid coloured gas. First blue, then green, then red and yellow – the gas lingered like new thoughts in the brain.
Mood board: For this collection Owens explores the Tower of Babel – a biblical story which offers an explanation as to why the world’s people speak different languages. It is a myth about compassion and understanding and who doesn’t need a bit of that right now? The clothes are an allegory for our times. A scene from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis from 1927 interprets the Tower of Babel in a way that fits Owens’ mood. A flashback tells of how the lack of communication between the architects and the builders leads to the Tower’s ultimate destruction. No doubt this is why Owens’ clothes come with integrated scaffolding – triangular aluminium frames sit underneath jersey t-shirts, rearranging the silhouette of the body in the extreme. They contrast with relaxed washed denim skirts or denim cut-offs.
Team work: Owens encourages the eye to do more. The look is intense yet there are a lot of easy clothes: jean jackets cropped with sharp shoulder pads; sharp tailoring in summer wool or waxed linen with slim arms in sheer crisp silk gazar; hiking boots and sandals from the brand’s second season with Birkenstock. A series of hooded nylon ponchos closed the show. Shown assembled into constructivist shapes, they will be shipped flat to stores with a set of aluminium poles as, the show notes read, ‘a reminder of what could be.’
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Microsoft vs Google: where is the battle for the ultimate AI assistant taking us?Tech editor Jonathan Bell reflects on Microsoft’s Copilot, Google’s Gemini, plus the state of the art in SEO, wayward algorithms, video generation and the never-ending quest for the definition of ‘good content’
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‘Independence, community, legacy’: inside a new book documenting the history of cult British streetwear label AriesRizzoli’s ‘Aries Arise Archive’ documents the last ten years of the ‘independent, rebellious’ London-based label. Founder Sofia Prantera tells Wallpaper* the story behind the project
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Palace unites with Rapha to celebrate inaugural Tour de France FemmesMarking the first time women will compete in the historic cycling race since the late 1980s, this new collaboration sees Palace Skateboards and Rapha create uniforms for both on and off the bike – including an ‘outlandish’ pair of Crocs
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At home with Rick OwensAs California-born fashion designer Rick Owens is named one of the Wallpaper* USA 300 – a celebration of creative America – we revisit our conversation with Owens in the run-up to his S/S 2023 menswear show last year
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Paris Fashion Week A/W 2022: Chanel to Miu MiuIn this extended report, Wallpaper* updates you live from Paris Fashion Week A/W 2022 shows, with rolling coverage as runway events unfold
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Scene-stealing runway sets from S/S 2022 womenswear showsFrom giant roulette wheels to Olympic diving boards and multi-city synchronized extravaganzas – our pick of the best fashion show sets from S/S 2022 womenswear
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Paris Fashion Week A/W 2021: discotheque chic to apres-ski sleek -
Walk this way: navigating S/S 2021's Paris Fashion WeekHow the City of Lights looked to the sartorial realities of our much changed lifestyles
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Louis Vuitton A/W 2020 Paris Fashion Week Women's -
Chanel A/W 2020 Paris Fashion Week Women’s
