Pass The Torch

September 28, 2018

Have you ever seen a model carry a torch down the runway? If you were at Rick Owens’ S/S ‘19 presentation, you have.

This season, the designer channeled all things epic and occult for the runway. In the show notes, he listed The Tower of Babel, Stairway to Heaven, hexes, nihilism and sleaze as inspiration. It was lit—literally.

Walking down the runway, models donned architectural crowns, while wearing deconstructed denim and leather pieces that clung to their bodies like armored silhouettes. As Brett Kavanaugh testified thousands of miles away in Washington, Owens dressed his clan of witches and warrior women in dirty, ripped up American flags. Though he never overtly mentioned #MeToo, or even the current political climate, it was clear this collection was a celebration of unapologetic womanhood. With a giant flaming pyre at the end of the runway, this time, it wasn’t women who were getting burned at the stake.

Text by Lee Phillips

Though Owens has always liked to stick with materials like leather and colors like, well, black and grey, this season his choices felt all the more resonant given the current politcal climate, and everything happening with Kavanaugh this week. The vibe—from the collection, to the atmosphere, and the beauty direction, which left models covered in haunting face paint—felt anarchic; apolcayptic even. But this time, women will be the ones who win. With this collection, Owens isn't surrendering to the end of the world—he's outfitting us for survival.

View some of our favorite looks, below.

Photos courtesy of the brand.

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For years, she stood still, watching life rush past her, a quiet observer behind the glass. Now, the glass is broken, and she steps out into the unknown. She walks through the city, caught between two worlds—part of it, yet apart from it.

Her journey is quiet but bold, searching for something she’s never understood, something just out of reach. On church steps and under glowing city lights, she questions everything: the rules, the past, and where she truly belongs. Each step feels both freeing and uncertain.

A curious soul in a borrowed life, she keeps moving forward, leaving behind only whispers of her escape, like a fleeting shadow in the night.