Rick Owens Men's Spring/Summer 2025 Displays Sumptuous Hollywood Glamour
After breaking tradition last season by appearing at the Place du Palais Bourbon, Rick Owens returns to his second home, the Palais de Tokyo for his Spring/Summer 2025 collection.
The esplanade of the Palais de Tokyo, nicknamed the “Dôme,” always offers extraordinary collections a worthy stage. Art Deco outdoor terraces make it a spectacular podium and towering pillars provide a majestic backdrop. Over the last few decades, the Palais de Tokyo has housed many fashion shows by the Californian designer and his (very) devoted community. Today, after taking a brief pause from the extravagant venue, Rick Owens made a fantastic return.
The show’s overarching theme was unity, and as such, Owens invited students from a wide variety of fashion schools to parade down the catwalk alongside models and circus artists. It highlights an urgency that Owens has admitted to feeling during these intolerant times, an urgency toward sympathy and appreciation of others. To capture this feeling, a palanquin-mounted metal scaffold supported a stoic woman as she waved a flag that featured two arms holding each other’s hands.
A total of 200 looks dutifully walked down the Dôme’s grand staircase and marble-tiled plaza, often in rank and file, while plumes of smoke blurred their silhouettes and wound into the sky. The collection’s color palette matched the Palais de Tokyo’s plain elegance with whites, silvers, and beige. The aesthetic redundancy of the clothing emphasized the diversity of the models that Owens cast–each row presented people of all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, and genders. It was a subtle, but effective way of distinguishing unity and monotony. Huge boots and eye-catching shoulder shapes were backed by flowing satin cloaks or paired with a gauzy wrap that struck a fascinating balance between athleisure and mummy. There was no shortage of headwear, with hoods, durags, and masks waving in the afternoon wind.
The show culminated in a spectacular 10-minute finale, which showcased in quick succession all of the many new creations that called on the know-how of talented external collaborators who were friends of the stylist, while respecting Italy-approved and organic production. The collection was called “Hollywood,” in homage to all these excesses that made him the extraordinary designer he is today. It functioned as a monument to the Hollywood that was, and a tribute to the place where it all began for him, Hollywood Boulevard.