It’s sexist and illogical, of course, to equate balls with courage, so when we say this show took balls we mean the real cojones. Man junk took the stage at Rick Owens’s Fall/Winter 2015 show in Paris last week, where large cloaks offered peeks into the models’ underwear region. The whole thing is done super casually, like the genitals are not the whole point of this show so stop staring, you pervert. The audience just caught partial glimpses of the goods through holes cut into the garments. Wee willy-windows, if you will.
Why is it always slightly shocking to see a strange man’s penis? Maybe because, outside of porn, no woman ever looks at one willingly. At least one woman sitting in the front row must have assumed she was being flashed. The designer explained backstage why the cock-frocks were crucial to the point he was trying to make about freedom. “Nudity is the most simple and primal gesture. It packs a punch. It’s powerful. It’s a straight world now. Who else can really get away with this stuff? It’s a corporate world! This was our private moment.”
Later, Owens spoke to WWD about the reactions this show caused — #dickowens was one of them. “We all know that runway looks aren’t meant to be taken literally, they illustrate an ethos. I would like to present a utopian world of grace free of fear and shame.” Well, if it’s for a good cause.
But maybe next time warn the women in the front row? A little heads-up like, caution: may contain nuts.
