Androgyny is trending on the runways and most designers are finding a way to incorporate the look into their collection through a cut, a color or a bright accessory, but Rick Owens has his own way of doing things. His Fall/Winter 2016 line, Mastodon, used volume to incorporate a touch of femininity, but more importantly to tell a story, one that was far from anything else we've seen this season. It called upon ideas of ecological anxiety and the possibility of annihilation—"what is the worst possible scenario?" he asked. The collection answered in almost grotesque proportions.
Models in sickly white faces came down the runway dressed in oversized outwear, unproportioned cargo pants and draped layers that seemed more appropriate for surviving the apocalypse than walking down Fifth Avenue. But that’s exactly what this was: an Owens-imagined wasteland. Fabrics were dripping in bleach-washed patterns while shearling coats enveloped models, almost drowning them in fabric. “I want to say I vomited this out,” Owens explained to Vogue backstage.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, his coats and jackets were well-tailored triumphs that fashionable (pre-apocalyptic) men could wear with ease. They were so well done that even some of the dripping prints on floor-length coats could be wardrobe favorites—that is if one could get past the disturbing and unsettling imagery that they bring to mind.
