Rick Owens Challenges Beauty Standards in his 2024 Fall Collection
“We’re all trying to find ourselves in this complicated society, trying to be original in a world that has already lived throughout decades.”
- Emmy Brutnell
Who is Rick Owens? Are his designs innovative, casual, or bleak? As of now, he is known to be the last standing truth-teller in the fashion world. His aesthetic is shaped by black and white 1930s Hollywood looks, and his designs emphasize the crudeness of this world. Many people would describe his aesthetic as dystopian. Owens started his label in the ‘90s on Hollywood Boulevard and then moved to Paris, where he now lives and works from. He talks about his hometown in Vogue Runway and states, “I remember it for its intolerance—although the intolerance I experienced was mild, obviously, compared to any intolerance that we’re seeing today.” He notices the problems in the world because he was a normal kid before fashion entered his life. Owens dealt with narrow-mindedness in his youth, which is relatable to many people today. Therefore, he produced his collection with thought and sincerity.
Owens challenges the idea that there are beauty standards that are simply unattainable. For his Fall 2024 collection, he wanted his clothes to feel sincere, and he wanted his audience to think deeper into his looks. In an interview with Vogue Runway, he states,
“ That standard is dishonest… but this is a fully resolved Rick Owens experience. It can’t get any more honest or authentic than this. And that was my basic urge this season: to be sincere.’ He added: ‘I’m trying to participate in and contribute to all alternative beauties: to bombastic beauty, sometimes, but also kind and soft beauty.”
In this new collection, the looks contain neutral colors, inflatable rubber boots, and oversized sweaters. The collection was named 'Porterville' after Owens' hometown in California's Sierra Nevada mountain range, a place he refers to as bleak and boring. When presenting the collection, he even held his fashion show in his own home!
Rick Owens travels, as we all do, but he recently made it known that he is not a fan of ‘airport beauty’. Some think the airport is the perfect occasion to wear your favorite sweatshirt and/or sweatpants. On the other hand, some see it as an excuse to break out more high-end pieces. Strangers always stare and you, yourself, always feel their eyes. Rick Owens criticizes this idea of judgment through his designs. Intimacy may balance out the judgment in the real world, because people will realize even the designers, like Rick Owens, are real people that also may be in the airport.
Owens shows his life throughout this collection in many forms. As an artist, he values the sense of intimacy. He shows his audience not only modern designs, but also his throne. He welcomes the catwalk into his foyer and the press into his front yard. The world today needs intimacy with fashion. We are all trying to find ourselves in this complicated society and trying to be original in a world that has already lived throughout decades. So, let’s pay more attention to fashion and let it inspire us.
Strike Out,
Emmy Brutnell
Saint Augustine
Editors: Maya Kayyal, Jessica Giraldo
Emmy Brutnell is a writer for Strike Magazine Saint Augustine. She grew up writing song lyrics and then horribly sang them. She enjoys reading poetry books as well as writing poetry. Feel free to reach her @emmybrut on instagram, or by email- ebrutnell@gmail.com.
