By far the biggest headlines to have come out of Paris Fashion Week this season were generated by Rick Owens, whoโin lieu of a typical, straightforward runway show, hired mostly minority step dancers from universities across America to perform wearing his clothing and his collaborative Adidas shoes. There was some serious mean mugging, too:
- MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty Images
Though technically wearing his designs, it's hard to argue that this show wasn't intended primarily as a performance-art statement about the exclusivity of the high fashion world, which (though there are a few practical reasons for it to some extent) is particularly exclusionary of body types outside a very narrow... narrow. These women are antithetical to what you're used to seeing at Fashion Week, but they're athletes, not "fat." And they're pissed.
(Rick Owens' S/S '14 items will still be going for thousands per piece at Barneys, though. So don't get too excited about his anti-exclusivity statement.) Way more photos and Instagram vids are here.