High Fashion meets Goth on the Runway

The NYT has an interesting piece about the latest trend in high fashion: the macabre.

Rick Owens's Reimagined Biker Jacket, for $2,700

Perhaps “macabre” is too strong a word, but it definitely has a distinct “goth” feel about it.  The designer spearheading this new veritable movement sweeping the fashion scene is Los Angeles-based Rick Owens.

What’s interesting about Owens is that rather than pop-culture’s recent obsession with “goth” influencing his work and the fashion industry on the whole, it’s the polar opposite.  While the fashion industry has been reincarnating various trends from the past in recent years—such as bell-bottoms a few years ago, and now bringing the 80’s back today—Owens has been beating a steady drum for many years that has been more forward-looking and visionary than nostalgic.

Once thought of as a fashion “outsider,” on the fringe of quirky design, Owens is now in the spotlight, being copied and mimicked not only by other designers in the industry, but also popular retail outlets for the marketplace.  Zig-zagged zippers and elongated, shrunken sleeves are cropping up everywhere they can be “copied-and-pasted.”

But despite the copycats, Owens has a positive outlook.  After all, imitation is the highest form of flattery.