Paris Fashion Week: Rick Owens Spring/Summer 2011

Rick Owens may be king of his gothic game, but he's no longer alone. His drapey, dark aesthetic has been snatched up by a league of gloomy newcomers, and some might want to challenge his reign. Never to be outdone, Owens proved yet again that he'll always have the edge over his competition, sending out a more controlled, tightly restrained collection that was daringly minimal.

Extreme, billowing skirts in silk cotton canvas swooped across the floor in long, unpredictable trains; they were paired with embellishment-free, stiffly molded jackets whose cuts were hard, strong, and almost sinister. The Owens trademark was definitely there--extra-long vests, oversized, sky-high collars, and backless tops--but there was something less aggressively moody about it, more austere. Impeccably cut leathers in bone, black, putty brown, and olive green were slick and sleek; stiff, architectural collars jutted far out from the neck in alienesque, army fashion.

In fact, there was more than a hint of the extraterrestrial in Owens' collection. As he told reporters backstage, "it's not worth presenting unless it's a bit supernatural," and his models stomped through the Palais de Tokyo like a mutant military race. Each girl was crowned with a pointy, sculpted hair comb reminiscent of antennae; coupled with Owens' clean lines and maximum volumes, they took his signature aerodynamicism to its alien extreme. Long, rigidly focused, and supremely elegant, his otherworldly beauties were strong, mutated minimalists that artfully balanced Owens' hard edge with his brooding lyricism.

Photos: vogue.com