Vogue – RUNWAY

The Most Important Collections of the 2010

Rick Owens Spring 2014

Rick Owens called his Spring 2014 show “Vicious.” It began not with the click of a wedge boot on concrete, as Owens’s shows so often did, but with the slam of a sneaker against a metal staircase erected in the basement of the Palais de Tokyo. From that first stomp came 40 more, courtesy of actual step troupes who performed a routine of stepping, percussive dance, and zulu dance choreographed by Lauretta Malloy Noble and her daughter LeeAnet. The four teams—the Washington Divas, the Soul Steppers, The Momentums, and The Zetas—were flown in from America and were largely women of color with body types that had been ignored by runway fashion for decades. “This was an exercise in working with a lot of body types, to really think in broader terms,” Owens said backstage. “How do I make it as accessible to everybody instead of creating an exclusive fashion world?” The answer wasn’t just in the bodies, but in the clothes themselves, cut short and sporty, allowing for a wider range of movement. Freedom of expression was always a Rick Owens thing, but here he opened the door on a new chapter, liberating himself for good from the antiquated rules of fashion, and jumpstarting a new era of runway diversity in the process.—Steff Yotka.

BY NICOLE PHELPS

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